The Danger of Pretending to be Someone Else
by Lady Miya
Summary: A dangerous attempt to lure the Dark Lord Voldemort leads to quite a bit of unexpected troubles for one Hermione Granger.
1. Prologue

Hello everybody! Happy Midsummer! New story from your truly, Lady Miya. This will be a rather short story (even if the prologue is insanely long), with just seven chapters after this prologue. I've already finished it, so now it's just the betaing left, but you don't have to worry about me abandoning the fic! The story is basically a relationship drama with a lot of smut between Hermione and Voldemort. I hope you'll like it!

**Warning! **This story contains a lot of smut and a little blood-play (none-vampire) and violence. If you can't handle that, DON'T READ THIS STORY!

This story is also AU after the forth book, which means Sirius and Dumbledore and a lot of other people is alive!

As always I'd like to thank my two wonderful betas; Ankoku Dezaia and MrsMalfoy288! Couldn't have done it without you!

Disclaimer; I do not own Harry Potter. Everything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling. I do not make any money on this.

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Prologue – The danger of pretending to be someone else

The Malfoy garden was spectacular and like nothing Hermione Granger had ever seen before. Unfortunately, she didn't have time delve in it, she was on a mission. With determined steps she walked right into the big mansion. The entrance was just as extravagant as the garden. It seemed like the Malfoys wanted to scream out their wealth to the world. For a moment Hermione simply had to stop and look closely at a golden statue of a unicorn. It was really a hideous thing, but it fitted right into the rest of the decoration in the house.

"Ah, Bella, back already?"

Hermione could feel the blood in her veins freeze at the voice. Nevertheless, she couldn't afford to show the slightest fear. She had Polyjuiced herself into looking like Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the most fearsome women in the world. Bellatrix was a Death Eater and one of the Dark Lord Voldemort's closest minions. Hermione had spent months studying her style so she would be able to use Bellatrix's appearance to gather information about the Dark Lord's plans in favour for the Order of the Phoenix. Her best friend Harry Potter hadn't wanted her to do it. He had thought it would be too dangerous and what if the real Bellatrix appeared?

Fortunately, luck had been with them. Just the day before, Bellatrix had been sent on a mission to try to find out where Harry Potter was hiding. Hermione, Harry and some other members of the Order had managed to capture her which made it possible for Hermione to gather information. They also had a plan to lure Voldemort out in the open.

Gathering all her courage, Hermione turned around and faced the Dark Lord. "Yes, my Lord. I managed to discover the Potter-brats' hiding place."

Voldemort slowly came up to her. Hermione had only seen him once before on a distance and she had to admit that he was looking even scarier up close. He didn't look human at all, more like a humanised serpent with demon red eyes.

"Excellent," Voldemort reached out and touched her cheek. Hermione couldn't repress a shudder. "You seem… strange?"

"We had a small fight," Hermione lied quickly. It wasn't really hard pretending to be the mad woman. Hermione had done her homework well, as always. "My dear cousin doesn't like me very much."

Voldemort seemed to accept that explanation. "You'll tell me all about it, but not now. I have considered your proposal."

Hermione blinked. Proposal? She hadn't heard anything about that. Oh, she'd just have to play along then. "I'm… honoured, master."

Voldemort nodded once and started to lead her down the corridor. "I have to admit your boldness surprised me, Bella, but the more I think about it, the more it tempts me." He led her down a staircase and into a dark room. "However, before I make my final decision I need to know you'll kill your husband. You know I don't like sharing my things."

Hermione was very intrigued. It seemed like Bellatrix and Voldemort had some special plan going on. She had to know more about it. Luckily it wasn't hard to figure out what the real Bellatrix would answer to this. "Of course I will kill Rodolphus, my Lord. I'd do anything for you."

Voldemort's smile was very unpleasant. "I thought so. This also means you won't be a part of the revels anymore."

"That doesn't concern me," Hermione quickly assured.

"Really? I know how much you like them," Voldemort seemed surprised.

"But they are nothing against the pleasure serving you will bring me," Hermione said and hoped it was the right thing to say.

"Well then there is nothing else to do but to do the ritual," Voldemort said with a pleased expression and lit the torches in the room.

Wait, ritual? Hermione could feel a slight hint of panic as she discovered that the room was set up from some sort of ritual. Circles were painted all around the floor which all contained different numbers. Hermione had studied Arithmancy five years at Hogwarts and she knew that this was one of the rituals her professor had talked about last year when she had been in her final year. Professor Vector had told them that there were many ways to use Arithmancy in rituals; healing, locating, protection, just to mention a few. For some reason, Hermione didn't think this was a locating ritual.

"It took me some hours to find the right ritual," Voldemort explained and pulled Hermione's attention to him again. She had to stop herself from screaming when she saw that he was naked. For one panicking moment she wondered if he was turning himself into a serpent, but then she realised that it was in fact his body. Although, not a human body. It was completely white and smooth. No nipples, no bellybutton, not even a penis.

The thought; _How does he pee?_ flew through Hermione mind before she managed to get a grip of herself again. He probably didn't even eat!

"Do I repulse you so?" Voldemort asked in a low voice.

"N-no…" Hermione started to say but he interrupted her.

"Don't lie to me, Bella," he hissed and went over to her. "I know that your proposal wasn't selfless. You want to be my mistress again and you know that this ritual won't only make me stronger, but also change my appearance. But that doesn't mean I'll be able to…" Voldemort closed his eyes for a moment. "You do realise this will change your life forever, don't you?"

Hermione still didn't understand what Voldemort was trying to do; although she had the feeling it was something about Dark Magic. Professor Vector had mentioned that there were dark Arithmancy rituals as well. The warning that she may die told her that it was probably one of those rituals.

Now this was a problem she hadn't expected. She didn't want to die, and if she exposed herself now, she would most likely die. However, if she did the ritual, she may be able to destroy it and weaken Voldemort.

It was slim chance, but it was all she had. She slowly nodded. "I-I'll do anything for you, my Lord."

Voldemort smile was almost soft. "I know you will, Bella. Now, undress. I want to be done with this before nightfall."

Trembling slightly, Hermione removed her own robe. She didn't look down at Bellatrix's body because she didn't need that picture in her brain as well. It was bad enough that she had seen Voldemort naked!

Voldemort sat down on his knees in the middle of the circle and gestured for her to do the same. He took her hand and then started to chant something. Hermione wondered what she should do. Could she push him backwards and maybe take his wand? Before she had time to decide the circles around them began to glow. Then, he disappeared.

For a moment Hermione thought it had all backfired and that he had died, but then the circle began to glow again and she suddenly felt herself changing back to herself. A second after she had received own body, her stomach began to grow as well. Hermione couldn't help but to scream. What was happening to her? Then came a moment of pain and she almost felt as if her stomach had been pressed out from her body. She fell backwards as her stomach sank back to its normal self and stopped hurting. However, she suddenly felt very exhausted, like she had run for miles.

She didn't know how long she lay there, but suddenly she was pulled up by someone. She opened her eyes and saw a man standing in front of her. He was just as tall as snake-Voldemort had been and with the same red eyes, but he looked much more human and he was covered in some wet substance.

"Who the hell are you?" he roared just before Hermione passed out from exhaustion.

xxx

The ritual had been very simple and very tricky at the same time. Bella was the only one who had noticed that he had began to loose strength. It was the fact that he had used a Muggle's bone in the ritual to regain his body that weakened him. The bones weren't used to magic and were slowly starting to die. Bella had come with the idea to connect her body to the power of birth and thereby create a new body for him. It wasn't like Bella would be his mother in any way. She would just be a vessel for the seconds it took to create a new body for him. Although, it would create some sort of bond between them, like the ability to sense each others feelings and speak into each others minds. Voldemort had seen this as an advantage in his fight against the Order. With Bella he could technically be at two places at once! The rest of the time he could just use Occlumency against her.

Now, the ritual was done and Voldemort found to his horror that Bella wasn't the one laying on the floor in front of him. Instead a young woman with curly brown hair lay there. Could you really blame him for being angry?

The girl (who seemed a little familiar) passed out when he tried to ask her who she was. Voldemort stared down at her as he thought. Well, at least this explained why the ritual had gone so well. She was young and clearly very powerful. He had wondered if Bella really was strong enough to help him fully. With this girl's power he had the same strong body he had had when he was young. Now when he felt how healthy and powerful he was, he wondered how he had managed to survive in the former body.

After a while, he decided that this young woman clearly wouldn't wake up any time soon. He dropped her on the ground again and went to get dressed. Then he called for one of his Death Eaters who had helped him study this ritual.

It only took Severus Snape five minutes to come down. "I see the ritual was a success," he remarked.

Voldemort nodded. "Yes, but it appears I have used the wrong person." He pointed at the naked girl he had left on the floor.

Severus' eyes widened. "How…?"

"Polyjuice, I presume," Voldemort answered a bit annoyed. "Do you know who she is?"

Severus nodded. "Miss Hermione Granger. She graduated last year. She's one of Harry Potter's best friends and a member of the Order."

Voldemort walked over to her and sat down next to her. "Then I assume she was here trying to gather some information. How come you didn't know that?"

Severus made a grimace. "I knew she and Potter was planning something, however they don't seem to trust me. It wouldn't surprise me if Black was in on it as well."

Voldemort pulled his finger through his new black hair. "I wonder why she didn't reveal herself once she understood what was about to happen."

"She probably thought you would kill her. Also, she is an insufferable know-it-all, she probably wanted to know what would happen," Severus said in displeasure.

"Perhaps. Give me that rode." Voldemort pointed at the robe she had left on the floor and Severus tossed it too him. Voldemort wrapped it around her body. "Take her to one of the guestrooms. I want to talk to her before I decide whether or not she will become the latest plaything at the revel. Oh, and make sure Potter finds out I have her. It will bring me great pleasure knowing that he will be tormented at the thought of her with me."

Severus smirked at that. "Yes, my Lord."

Voldemort stood again and left the room. First things first, he needed to tell his Death Eaters about his latest success.

xxx

When Hermione woke up again, her whole body was aching. For a disoriented moment she thought she was back in her own bed at Grimmauld Place, but then she realised that the smell was wrong. Her own bed smelled off the cheap soap Sirius bought, this one smelled like some sort of flower. This one smelled like some sort of expensive flower, or herb. When she opened her eyes she saw that she was lying on a big four poster bed with white covers. Light from big French windows illuminated the room. It was very pretty with pink flowers on a nightstand and an old fashion washbasin on a small wardrobe. Hermione looked around for her wand but couldn't find it anywhere. A white housecoat was lying over a chair. Hermione realised she had no idea where her clothes were, so she quickly put it on and went to the window. However, one foot away from it was a barrier. A repealing charm, probably. It seemed like she was a prisoner even if she wasn't locked away in a dungeon.

She went to the door and found it locked as well. When she turned to go back to the bed, the door opened behind her. Lord Voldemort stepped into the room. Hermione was struck by how incredibly frightening he looked. His appearance was more human now with black hair and eyebrows, nose and lips; however his whole aura screamed out that this was someone who could kill you without a second thought in a matter of second. At least with his snake-like appearance you could see clearly that he was a monster. Now he didn't seem so two-dimension anymore.

"Good afternoon, Miss Granger," he said softly and locked the door behind him. "Please, sit."

With all the grace and courage she could muster, she sat down on the chair near the window. Voldemort transformed a chair out of thin air and sat down next to her. "This was… unexpected, wouldn't you say?"

Hermione nodded slowly, uncertain about what he wanted. She also felt a little weird, like if she had forgotten something and was about to remember it.

"First I have to ask; where is Bella?" he asked, his eyes not leaving hers for a moment.

Hermione swallowed. "We captured her when she was spying on us."

"Yes, I figured that much, that's why I want to know where you have hid her now." It felt like he was trying to see into her mind.

"I have no idea," Hermione answered honestly. "I left before they had decided where to take her."

"I see," Voldemort leaned back in the chair. "What was your purpose of coming here, then? Don't lie, I can tell if you do."

Hermione took a deep breath. "We wanted to find out if you were planning something… and hopefully lure you out so Harry could kill you."

"Is that all?"

Hermione noticed that he was slowly stroking his thumb and index finger together. "Yes, that's all."

"You must have studied Bella for quite some time," he remarked.

"Months." She couldn't tear her eyes away from the movement of his fingers.

"It was a very believable performance. If I had found out before the ritual, I would have killed you." He said it so easily that Hermione shuddered and managed to look up at his face again.

"Why don't you kill me now?" she asked.

He smirked and leaned forward. "Do you really want to find out? Because if I haven't killed you, I must have something else in mind for you. Something you no doubt will find much more terrifying than death."

Hermione started to nibble her lower lip. "I prefer knowing anyway."

"Clever girl," he mumbled and stood. Hermione watched him as he paced the room. "Do you know what kind of ritual you unfortunately participated?"

"Some sort of Arithmancy ritual. Seeing you now make me think it was some sort of restoring ritual," she guessed shyly.

"Very good. Do you also know the side effects of restoring rituals?" he asked.

"No, I just know the Ministry doesn't allow people to use it on each other," Hermione said with a frown.

"No guesses?" He was teasing her; she ignored it and just shook her head. "It's because the Ministry is awfully fond of individuality. This ritual ties the two persons together in a very special way. Like, when I say I will know when you lie, it's because I can sense what you are thinking. Isn't that scary?" His smile was very unpleasant.

Hermione frowned. It wasn't like she had that many things on her mind she didn't want people to know. Well, except for the fact that she… She looked at him and scowled. "How come I can't sense what you are thinking?"

He chuckled. "Occlumency. And don't fear, I won't tell anyone that you spy on Sirius Black in the bath."

She blushed. "Is that the only side effect?"

"I'm afraid not," he said gravely. "After a while, we will also start to sense each others emotions. That is not something we can ignore either. This was why I ordered Bella to kill her husband."

"Why would… oh," Hermione could feel her cheeks heating again. "Oh no."

"However, I don't think a girl like you has a boyfriend, so I won't have to sense your lust and love," he said arrogantly.

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you know about that?"

"Do you have a boyfriend, Miss Granger?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean I don't have sex sometimes," she retorted.

"Who would want to fuck you?" Voldemort actually seemed surprised.

Hermione huffed. "You'd be surprised and I could ask you the same thing."

Voldemort arched his perfect eyebrow again.

"Well I meant before," Hermione muttered and looked down at her knees. Why was she having a discussion about sex with Voldemort? She knew she thought about it a lot, but shouldn't she be more worried about what he was going to do to her?

"Yes, you should," he said and she realised he had been reading her thoughts again. "Especially since I haven't come up with anything yet. Everything you say and do will help me decide what I should do."

"Oh…," Hermione didn't really know what to say.

He rose. "Why don't you think about that for a while? I'll be back later." Then he left the room.

Hermione stared after him. What did he mean? Was she supposed to offer information so he wouldn't harm her? Or offer to do him favours, like bring Harry to him? She could never do that! Or maybe he was just starting some sick mental torture. Make her create the most horrid scenarios of what he would do to her in her mind before he even began? Yes, that sounded like Voldemort. That meant she would have to take this calmly. Not overreact or do something stupid. Not like Harry would do.

xxx

"What do you mean he found out?" roared Potter in the kitchen were the Order had gathered.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Exactly what I said. The Dark Lord found out that Miss Granger was pretending to be Bellatrix. He is very crossed."

"Then why didn't you help her out from there?" the boy growled, his green eyes burning furiously.

"Please Potter, for once in your life, think! How would I be able to remove Miss Granger from the Dark Lord without exposing myself and possibly kill us both? If you had notified me of your plans before Miss Granger stormed in, I might have been able to help. As things are now, we can merely put our faith in the Dark Lord's good will and Miss Granger's cooperation," Severus said, irritated at the boy's stupidity.

"So you say she is as good as dead then?" Potter hissed.

Before Severus had time to response, Albus Dumbledore cut in. "We aren't helping anyone by this argument. Severus, if you have nothing else to report I suggest you go back to Voldemort. Try to find some way to help Miss Granger, or at least find out how she is."

Severus nodded, stood up and went out to the hall. However, before he had time to leave, Granger's other friend Ronald Weasley followed him and dragged him into the library. Severus was about to give the boy an angry lecture about not dragging people when he saw tears in his eyes.

"Is she… are they torturing her?" Weasley asked with an unsteady voice.

Severus decided that now wasn't the time to be his usually snarky self, he really didn't want the boy to start crying. "Not that I know of. When I left, the Dark Lord hadn't decided what to do with her."

"That's good," the boy mumbled. "Do you think they will?"

"If she displeases the Dark Lord, the risk is high," Severus repeated coldly.

"Yeah, but Hermione is clever," he seemed to try to build up some hope. "Maybe she will be able to fool him into believing that she wants to help him or something…"

Severus couldn't help but to snort. "I very much doubt that a twenty-year-old girl with very little experience of Occlumency will be able to fool the Dark Lord in any way."

Weasley swallowed. "If you see her can you tell her that I… I… am thinking about her?"

"Of course, I'm certain your thoughts will help her to fight the Dark Lord and not loose hope," Severus said sarcastically.

The stupid boy didn't seem to pick up his sarcasm because he smiled and said; "Thank you Professor." Then he left the room.

Severus shook his head in disbelief before he Apparated back to Malfoy Manor. As soon as he arrived, a House-Elf told him that the Dark Lord was waiting for him in the library. Severus went there and found the now much more humanlike Dark Lord sitting in front of the fire. Severus repressed a shudder. Somehow this humanised Dark Lord was harder to read than the snakelike Dark Lord. With the latter you always expected torture and murder, but with his new appearance it wasn't so clear that he was a monster.

"How did Potter take it?" the Dark Lord asked and looked up at him.

"As could be expected, he screamed and blamed everyone else," Severus said and stopped in front of the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord smirked. "The boy does have his tempter issues."

Severus just nodded and waited for him to be given an order.

"Do you think there is any chance for Miss Granger to help our cause, Severus?" The Dark Lord asked after a while.

Severus had to think about it. "I'm not certain, my Lord. She is a knowledge seeker more than anything else and it may be possible to lure her into the Dark Arts. However, she is also a Gryffindor and I fear she has spent too much time with Potter to ever consider practising the Dark Arts."

The Dark Lord started to roll his wand over his fingers. "Nevertheless, she is a woman, Severus. Women are so easy to seduce." There was a slight pause before he thoughtfully asked; "Would you fuck her?"

Severus' eyes widened. "Fuck Miss Granger? I have never even considered it. She will always be a child in my eyes. Why do you ask?"

"Well, if she loves knowledge as much as you claim, one would think she could be attracted to her teachers," he said with a smirk. "However, I assume you have successfully killed all sort of tender emotions in all your students with your snarky ways."

"Merlin I hope so," Severus mumbled under his breath.

The Dark Lord just chuckled.

Severus shifted from one foot to the other. As a spy he was natural curious to find out things. "If I may be so bold to ask…?"

"You may."

"Thank you, my Lord. Are you really planning to sway the girl to us?" Severus asked uncertainly. "She is after all a Mudblood."

He shrugged. "It would disturb Potter. And if I told the Death Eaters that she was to become one as well, who would question me?"

"Of course you are right, my Lord," Severus said, very certain he hadn't heard the full answer. "May I ask if this is about the ritual?"

The Dark Lord rose from the armchair. "No, you may not. Good day Severus."

"Good day, master." Severus bowed as the Dark Lord left the room. This was certainly an interesting turn of events, the Dark Lord considering turning a Mudblood to the dark arts, Potter's Mudblood at that. It seemed like the next couple of months would be very interesting indeed.

xxx

Voldemort stared thoughtfully at the young woman across the table. She had found an old robe somewhere in her drawers and was now dining with him. He knew she must be hungry and yet she ate very carefully.

"I haven't poisoned the food," he finally said. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead."

Granger looked up at him. "There's still no reason to eat too quickly." She even spoke carefully.

Voldemort smiled and continued with his own food. Lucius looked at him funny when Voldemort told him he was to eat dinner alone with the Mudblood. Of course, Lucius was clever enough not to question him. Granger too seemed to think he was strange for eating with her as an equal, not that she was, of course not. No one was equal to the Dark Lord. He was merely toying with her. See how far he could drive her before she did something out of line. She was very much in control for a woman her age.

"Would you care for some desert?" he asked when he saw that she had finished dinner. They were sitting inside her room and he had conjured up a big table.

Granger seemed very surprised. "I… okay."

A House-Elf appeared with two plates of chocolate pudding and placed one in front of him and the other in front of the girl. Granger took her fork and tasted it. He could see how much she enjoyed it.

"Did you know chocolate is considered an aphrodisiac in some cultures?" he asked nonchalantly.

She almost chocked on the chocolate. "E-excuse me?"

Voldemort let the chocolate melt in his mouth before he swallowed it. It had been a long time since he last ate it. His snake body didn't require food. "Oh, yes. Women especially seem to respond to it."

"Are you trying to… seduce me?" she asked incredulously.

He took another bite before he answered. "You really must think highly of yourself, Miss Granger. I was merely making small talk."

The girl blushed. "Oh. Then yes, I actually did know that. Cacao beans were also used as money in the Aztec society."

Voldemort smirked. "Severus was right, you really are a know-it-all."

Granger straightened up in her chair with and seemed to try to repress an angry retort. She was unsuccessful. "Well, you seem to fit the description as well."

"Why yes, I do 'know it all', however, I do not go around bragging about it like other know-it-alls," he said with a smirk.

"You don't call that bragging?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No, I was merely stating the fact."

She snorted.

"Careful, Granger, you don't want to upset me," he said lightly and ate the last of his chocolate.

She sighed. "You keep telling me that, but I'm staring to wonder if you are going to do more than just… act civil with me."

Voldemort wiped his mouth in his napkin. "Maybe you need to know what I can do then."

"How do you mean?" she asked, looking a bit worried now.

He pulled the chair away from the table and gestured for her to come to him. When she didn't move, he took his wand and forced her chair to move toward him. Her eyes were wide when she stopped right in front of him.

"Give me your arm," he asked in a nonnegotiable voice.

She trembled slightly as she held out her arm. He grasped her wrist with his left hand and took the table knife with his right. Then he licked the knife clean. Granger seemed to sense what he was about to do because she tried to withdraw her hand. He only held a tighter grip.

"This will only hurt a little while," Voldemort said softly and placed the knife at her white smooth skin. "You see, Granger, I know I have been easy on you. That's mostly because you are still so young. If I used my worse on you, you wouldn't last a day. I want you to last more than a day." He slowly pressed the sharp edge of the knife into her arm and pulled it downwards. "Alas, I have decided to start easy and work my way to the really painful things."

Granger winced as she started to bleed. He removed the knife and pulled her wrist upwards. The thick red blood ran slowly down her white skin. He leaned toward her and placed his mouth at her arm and slowly used his tongue to lick up the blood.

The girl watched him in some paralysed horror.

"Funny," he whispered and let go of her arm. "Your blood doesn't taste like mud at all."

Then he stood up and left. Oh, how he liked to make a good exit!

xxx

Hermione didn't know how long she stared at the closed door. Her arm was itching a bit after the knife, but she hardly noticed. Voldemort had tasted her blood. Why had he done that? And why didn't she find it disgusting? It made her shiver, yes, but she didn't know why. It felt so… intimate in some way.

After what could have been an hour, she rose and tried the door again. She wanted to get out from the room. She had nothing to do except stare at the pretty things. It was very boring. However, the door was still locked so she found nothing else to do than to go to bed. Perhaps she could sleep this whole imprisoning away.

Sleep wouldn't come. She lay tossing and turning for hours thinking about what Voldemort had in mind and what her friends were doing. In the end, she did fall asleep, only to wake up by someone entering the room. It was early in the morning and still quite dark outside. She could see a shadow coming closer to the bed.

"Who is it?" Hermione asked uncertainly.

The shadow attacked her. She realised it was a man and she tried to push him away. He growled when she hit him with her elbow and answered with twisting her arm to her back before he turned her around so she lay on her stomach. Her scream was muffled by the pillow. She felt the panic rise when the hand that wasn't holding her down started to pull up her nightgown. Had Voldemort ordered someone to rape her? Because she could tell this wasn't Voldemort. This man smelled of some horrid aftershave.

When the attacker's hand reached her bum, Hermione growled and stopped all movement. Remus and Sirius had taught her about wandless magic. She focused all her magical energy to push away the attacker and just when she was ready to throw him away, he was ripped away from her. Hermione was so surprised she totally lost control of her magic and she heard something explode.

"LUCIUS!" That was Voldemort and he sounded very angry. "What in the name of Salazar are you doing here? Didn't I tell you the Mudblood was off limits for everyone until further notice? Did you find yourself above that order? _Crucio!_"

In the flash of red light, Hermione could see Lucius Malfoy's horrified face and Voldemort's furious one. Then Malfoy began to scream. If he hadn't just tried to rape her, Hermione may have felt sorry for him. Now she just felt a dark satisfaction.

After a couple of minutes, Voldemort stopped the spell and threw Malfoy out from the room. He turned to her with his wand still in a tight grip.

"You were about to push him off," he commented in a stern voice.

She nodded.

"Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head. "How did you know he was here?"

Voldemort made a grimace and finally loosed his grip on his wand. "I could sense your panic."

"Oh." Now when Hermione thought about it, she did sense something at the back of her head, a fury that wasn't her own. It was a bit scary. "Thank you for… helping me."

"It was nothing. Lucius should know better than go against my orders," Voldemort said.

An uncomfortable silence settled inside the room. After a couple of moments, Voldemort pulled his hand through his hair. "I should…"

"Were you asleep?" Hermione asked at the same time. She had looked at him and realised he was still dressed in the same robe he had had when he left earlier that evening.

"What?" He looked down at himself. "Oh, no, I was reading."

Hermione smiled, as she always did when she thought about reading. "Isn't it wonderful when you just loose yourself in a book? I was in the middle of _The Unworldly Trees; a Potion Guide_ before I came here."

Voldemort snorted. "The conclusion of that book is silly. The author actually thinks the trees are magical."

"Aren't they?" Hermione asked annoyed.

"No, he just took samples from one place. What makes the Potions work is the unicorn pee on the tress. Really, Granger, a three-year-old could figure that out," Voldemort mocked her.

Hermione pressed her lips together. "I said I was half-way through. He is very empiric, although, I have found some things I didn't think make sense. I just think it's interesting to see different views!"

"You are so naïve. I could tell after just three pages," Voldemort said arrogantly.

"I don't believe that," she scoffed.

He rolled his eyes. "Like I actually care about what you believe or not. You are an amateur! Come back in twenty years when you have read a little more and I may care."

"Well, if you would give me some books now, I could start to become a professional," she said quickly, hoping he would fall for it.

Voldemort blinked and then smirked. "Maybe you're not as naïve as I thought then. You are bored."

"Of course I am," she cried. "The most exciting thing that ever happened since I was captured was when you had dinner with me!"

"Prisoners are not meant to have fun," Voldemort remarked, although he seemed amused.

"So this is you torturing me then? Slowly driving me insane by being locked inside a quite comfortable room with enough food to keep me from being hungry?" she asked a bit distressed.

"Would you rather I torture you with knives again?" he asked coldly.

Her eyes narrowed. "No."

He went up to her and took her chin in his hand. "Then I suggest you stop whining. Otherwise, I may let Lucius come in here again and have his way with you. I assure you, you wouldn't like that."

His eyes seemed to be tearing into her soul. "O-okay."

"Good," he let go of her. "Good night, Miss Granger."

"Good night," Hermione answered weakly. She didn't sleep more that night.

xxx

Three days after Miss Granger's capture, Severus was once again called to the Dark Lord. This time he was sitting inside his office. It was still early and the morning sun was shining from a single window. The Dark Lord was sitting behind a desk and gestured for Severus to sit in the chair opposite of him.

"Tea?" the Dark Lord asked and pointed at a tea tray at the end of the desk.

Severus thankfully took a cup. He hadn't had time for breakfast yet.

"Antonin has decided to have a party tonight," the Dark Lord said in a light tone. "He felt my newest appearance needed a celebration."

Severus knew Antonin was only brownnosing the Dark Lord and nodded mutely.

"Unfortunately, you will from noon today officially be in Russia on a lesser mission," The Dark Lord continued calmly.

"And unofficially, my Lord?" Severus asked. He knew he would now receive an order from the Dark Lord that was not for the rest of the Death Eaters to know.

"Unofficially, you'll be here, helping Miss Granger escape," his voice was still very calm. "I will only leave Wormtail here and he will tomorrow be accused for helping Miss Granger to escape. I'll plant a false memory in his mind later."

Severus was very surprised. "Help Miss Granger to escape? What for?"

The Dark Lord shrugged. "Well, she isn't very useful here, is she? Just occupying a guestroom and eating Lucius' food. Not that he can't afford it, mind you."

"Pardon, my Lord, but I don't understand. If you don't have any use for her, why not kill her?" Severus asked.

The Dark Lord gave him a what-makes-you-think-she-isn't-useful-look but said; "She is pretty. Why kill pretty things if you don't have to?"

Severus understood that he would not get an answer now. "What will I tell Dumbledore?"

Voldemort shrugged. "Just tell him what you tell Granger, you saw an opening and decided to take it. You also know that I'm not fond of Wormtail and I won't mind killing him."

"Of course, but Dumbledore also knows that you can see through memory-charms," Severus objected. This was usually how he operated, by letting the Dark Lord order him to tell Dumbledore things. It was so much easier. He did the same to Dumbledore.

"Then make something up," the Dark Lord said a bit annoyed. "Just make sure Granger doesn't find out. Also, make sure she doesn't tell anyone about the ritual. Make her feel embarrassed for helping me or something."

Severus nodded. "Anything else, my Lord?"

"No, you may leave. Just remember to stay out of sight. We will be leaving at nine tonight and I expect some of us to be back at midnight."

Severus drank the last of his tea, stood and bowed. This was very peculiar. Why did the Dark Lord want Granger to leave? Whatever reason, it couldn't be anything good for the Order. He would have to warn Dumbledore.

xxx

Hermione had never been much for body-building. The only exercise she participated was jogging with Ginny or walking with the boys. However, since she had nothing else to do locked inside a room all day, she decided that she could try to do some of the exercises she had seen Remus and Sirius do from time to time. Sit-ups and push-ups were the things she did best. After a while she felt very stupid doing all this so she just sat on the floor near the window and meditated.

Meditating was something she was used to doing. She usually did it after a long day of study. It was a good way to remember what she had learned and relax before bedtime. This time she noticed something different. When she was deeply relaxed she noticed that there where something else in her mind, something that hadn't been there before. However, it was blocked. When she tried to see what it was, she got pushed away. The only thing that sipped out from it were fragments of a feeling; annoyance.

She did felt a little annoyed, but this wasn't her feeling. This was Voldemort's. She opened her eyes with a gasp. She had felt his anger two nights before, but that had been so strong. This annoyance wasn't strong, just noticeable. He must be using Occlumency so she wouldn't be able to see deeply into his mind. Did that mean he could access her brain which was unprotected by Occlumency? That wouldn't be good at all.

Before she had time to think more about it, the door to her room opened and Professor Snape stopped at the doorway. "Hurry! I'll take you from here."

Hermione had no reason to doubt her professor, so she jumped up and hurried to him. He lead her down a corridor and out to a terrace. The moon was about to rise and it was still warm outside, even if it was September. Snape grabbed her wrists and Apparated.

When they landed, they were standing in a dark ally.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked inquisitively. Somehow that had seemed too easy.

Snape looked around to make sure they were alone. "The Dark Lord sent me on a mission in Russia, but I came back earlier than expected. When I realised only Pettigrew was left in the mansion, I altered his memory so he believes he has helped you out. I had to act quickly."

"Oh, thank you," Hermione said. That was believable, but still, it was so easy.

Snape nodded once. "Before I take you to Grimmauld Place, I must share some of my concerns."

"Concerns?" she asked worriedly.

"About your involvement in the Dark Lord's reborn," Snape said seriously. "I haven't told anyone in the Order that you were the one to help him."

Hermione frowned. "Why haven't you?"

"Because I feel that information is for you to deliver, since you will be the one to live with the glares." He almost sounded concerned.

"What do you mean?" she said, her worry growing with every second.

Snape seemed annoyed. "I thought that you had figured it our by now, you helped the Dark Lord become more powerful than he had been in decades, Miss Granger."

Hermione gaped, surprised. "What?"

"You have seen what he looks like now! His powers have increased at the same amount as his looks. And it's all because of you. If the real Bellatrix had helped him, he wouldn't even have half the power he has now," Snape said gravely.

"But… I didn't mean too," Hermione objected. Was Snape trying to make her feel guilty? If he was, it was working. She didn't want to be the reason Lord Voldemort became super powerful.

"I'm aware of that," Snape said lowly. "Which is why I haven't told anyone except Dumbledore about you're involvement in the ritual. All the rest need to know is that he is powerful."

Hermione frowned. "But I don't want to lie to my friends!"

Snape sighed. "Granger, you have showed tendencies to be rather reasonable at times. It would only disturb your friends if they knew about it. And Merlin knows I didn't just save you so you could tell your friends and let them chase you away again."

"They would never do that," Hermione exclaimed.

Snape arched an eyebrow.

Hermione made a grimace. Yes, Harry and Ron could be a bit quick to judge sometimes. "But what if Voldemort can spy on them through me? Shouldn't I warn them?"

Snape frowned. "How would he be able to do that?"

She scraped her foot against the ground. "Well, I'm not sure, but we can sense each others feelings…"

"I see." He seemed to consider this for a moment. "I'll take it up with Dumbledore. Although, I am sceptical that the Dark Lord would want to spy on a twenty-year-old woman who is known to spend most of her time reading."

She thought about it. "Maybe you are right," she said hesitatingly.

"Of course I'm right. Now I think it's time to reunite you with your friends. At least I'll no longer have to listen to their constant whining about your condition." Snape made a gesture for her to follow him and then left the ally with long steps.

Hermione didn't say anything as they walked through the night. Instead, she started to feel incredibly happy for being home again. She had been certain she would find some way to come back, but not this soon! Although, that was also what was weird. Other people had been kidnapped by Voldemort and the Death Eaters and if they had turned up again, it had been after months and they had all been tortured and sick.

It was almost too good to be true, she thought as they walked up to Grimmauld Place number twelve. The moment she entered the kitchen with Snape, everything stopped. Harry, Sirius, Remus and Tonks all stared at her. Harry was the first one to rise and go over to her and hug her. The others followed and a very emotional moment began. Ten minutes after she had come back, Remus notified the Weasleys who all wanted to hug her and ask her if she were alright. Then Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall came and more hugs were exchanged.

Hermione felt a bit lightheaded from all the emotions and was very grateful when Dumbledore took her to the living-room to talk with her in private. Snape followed as well.

"How do you feel, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked in a very concerned voice.

Hermione shrugged. "I feel fine. Lucius Malfoy tried to rape me, but Voldemort stopped him. That was the only scary thing that happened."

Dumbledore frowned and looked from her to Snape. "Why would Voldemort stop something like that?"

"The Dark Lord gave us all orders not to harm the girl until further notice," Snape said dryly. "Lucius was stupid to think the Dark Lord would let him get away with it."

Dumbledore seemed very surprised. "And Voldemort didn't hurt you at all?"

"No… or, well-" Hermione pulled up her arm and showed them the fading scar. "- he said my blood didn't taste like mud. However, it wasn't really painful."

Dumbledore stroke his beard. "Curious. It has to be because of the…"

"Headmaster," Snape interrupted. "There is something I would wish to discus with you before we reach any conclusions."

Hermione frowned. She wasn't stupid in any way. There was something going on here, something Snape didn't want her to find out. It had to be about the ritual with Voldemort.

"Very well, then," Dumbledore said. "I'm glad to see that you are fine, Hermione. Maybe you should go to your friends. I expect they are still very worried."

Hermione pressed her lips together, nodded and left the room. She didn't like being kept in the dark. This would require some sneaking around.

"Hermione!" Harry said when she came back into the kitchen. "What did Dumbledore want?"

"Just to know what Voldemort-" Half the room shuddered. "- did to me, which is nothing."

"That sounds very unlike him," Sirius Black remarked and made a gesture for her sit next to him. Miss Weasley placed a cup of tea in front of her and Hermione found herself the attention of the whole room.

"Yes, I guess it is," Hermione said slowly, not certain what they expected her to say.

"He didn't try to pump you for information?" Ron asked from the opposite side of the table.

"Not really. Well, he did want to know what I was doing there and I told him I was looking for information. He didn't seem too worried," Hermione confessed. "He also found out that I was supposed to lure him out."

Harry smiled. "Yeah, we figured that plan didn't work once you were captured but by then we were just worried about what he would do to you."

She smiled shyly. "Sorry."

"It was a reckless plan to begin with and you should never have gone through with it," Mrs Weasley huffed.

"But everything is alright now mum," Ron objected. "Right?"

Hermione smiled. "Right." Although, she could see that neither Sirius nor Remus seemed to believe her.

Much later, when she was lying in her own bed, she wondered what Snape had wanted to discuss with Dumbledore that she couldn't hear. Did they believe she was still in danger? If so, wasn't it better if she knew what kind of danger it was? Or was it something about the ritual? Why hadn't Snape wanted her to tell the others about her connection with Voldemort?

The thoughts became foggy and she fell asleep. When she started to dream, she found herself in a strange place. She was standing on a beach and the ocean was green. The sky above her had no sun and yet there was light. She sat down and waited. First, she didn't know what she waited on, but then she saw him. Voldemort walked over the water and came to sit next to her.

"So are you asleep as well?" she asked with a smile. She wasn't afraid of him here. Somehow, she knew he couldn't harm her.

"No, I'm merely meditating," Voldemort said and smiled fondly. He was wearing white shorts. No, blue. No, he was wearing a red robe. No, now it changed again to a dark green robe. Hermione looked at the ocean again.

"Don't you have to sleep?" she asked.

"No, I find it a waste of time. If I meditate for a couple of hours, it's enough," he answered calmly. "What did they say when you came back?"

Hermione shrugged and lay down on her back. "They were happy. Snape and Dumbledore are hiding something for me. I don't like that. I will try to figure out what they talked about."

"Don't you think they only want what is best for you?" Voldemort asked and lay down next to her. Now his robe was white.

"No. They want what is best for the Greater Good. It's silly really." Her fingernails were red. It suited her.

"The Greater Good is silly?" Voldemort seemed surprised over her statement.

"Yes. I mean, how do you know that something you do will turn out for the Greater Good? You can't see into the future. You can think that things will turn out great, but you never really know, do you?" When she said it she realised that she had thought about it a lot.

"No, I guess you don't," he was amused. "Does that mean you would consider joining the Death Eaters?"

Hermione snorted. "No, never. I know that you want to kill Harry and probably all my other friends. I could never do that. And I don't believe that purebloods are more superior either."

Voldemort sighed and sat up again. "Who do you love?"

Hermione looked into his eyes. They were brown, not red. "No one."

"Who do you want?"

"Hermione!"

Hermione sat up when she heard her name being called. It was him. She smiled and waved at him as he came closer. Voldemort was completely forgotten as the dark-haired man sat down next to her and pulled her to him. They kissed. In her dreams, Sirius Black was a magnificent kisser. She didn't know when she would find the nerve to try it for real.

"I see," came Voldemort's voice from behind them.

When Sirius went down to kiss her neck and massage her breast, Hermione turned her head in Voldemort's direction. "What are you still doing here?"

Voldemort smirked. "Enjoying the show."

"Well, I don't want you here, go away," she said matter-of-factly and turned her attention back to her imaginary-lover. She forgot all about him again and for the rest of the dream, Sirius was all she thought about.

xxx

Voldemort opened his eyes with a smile. The girl had cheek, he would give her that. However, she hadn't seemed to realise he was really in her dream. He wondered if she would remember dreaming about him in the morning. Perhaps not after the attention Black had given her. She had some imagination. He even found himself semi-erected. But he didn't have time for that now.

Standing up, he stretched his back and went to pour himself some water. He always became thirsty when he meditated. While drinking, he went to his desk and wrote down what he found out from the girl. He wondered how long it would take for either her or Dumbledore to find out he was spying on them through her. Dumbledore was certainly already suspicious, even if he did buy Severus' story about only seizing the opportunity. The Headmaster wasn't stupid.

Voldemort drank the last of the water and left the room. It was time to kill Wormtail for a betrayal he never did. It didn't bother Voldemort at all. Everything was a game. Sometimes sacrifices needed to be made and it was not like anyone would miss the annoying rat.

The persecution of Wormtail was quite amusing really. The man cried and screamed and begged and humiliated himself before he was finally dead. Voldemort asked for a couple of Death Eaters to bury him somewhere and then left to speak with Severus. The Potions Master was waiting for him at his office. Voldemort asked him to enter.

"I trust everything went well?" Voldemort asked and made a gesture for Severus to sit at the opposite side of the desk.

"Yes, although Miss Granger seemed very suspicious over the fact that I didn't want her to talk about the ritual with the others. I made her believe Dumbledore had ordered it," Severus explained.

"She is awfully clever, isn't she?" Voldemort mused. "What do you think Dumbledore will do when he finds out?"

"Probably talk to Granger about it," Severus said and rolled his eyes. "Most certainly he will find out what is going on before she does."

Voldemort smirked. "You already know, then?"

"Yes, she told me you were able to sense each others feelings. I assume you have a Legilimency connection open to her all the time?" Severus asked curiously.

Voldemort just smiled.

"Well, she must be a more… pleasant mind to enter than Potter. Much more organised," Severus remarked dryly.

Voldemort leaned back in his chair. "Yes and such dirty fantasies. Just out of curiosity, do you know whom she has been involved with?"

He made a grimace. "I can't say I'm very interested. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if she has been involved with the youngest Weasley boy and she went to a school dance with Viktor Krum. Otherwise she seemed more interested in her studies than boys."

"Sounds healthy," Voldemort said thoughtfully. "Not Potter?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Severus seemed a bit uncomfortable with the object.

"Well then. You may leave," Voldemort said and started to look at the rolls of parchment which were lying in front of him on the desk.

Severus left with a bow. At that moment, Voldemort sensed a strong happiness from the girl. He frowned, the feeling was very strong. After a couple of moments it faded away. For the next couple of days he noted how he couldn't block her feelings. When she felt something very strongly, it went through him like an electric shock. It was annoying but thankfully he didn't feel it so often. Every night he would walk into her dreams to see what she had been up to. She wasn't a very useful spy, but she did notice details others didn't. It almost made up for those annoying shocks of feeling.

Although, he wondered how long it would take before she felt something so strongly that he couldn't ignore it anymore.

xxx

The days started to move quicker for Hermione. Since she had been captured, Tonks had decided to start to train them all in some hand-to-hand combat as well as duelling with wands. Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny spent the whole morning and a couple of hours after lunch down in the basement together with Tonks, Sirius and occasionally Remus. In the afternoon, Hermione spent researching the ritual and other things. That way, she was always busy and fell asleep before her head even touched the pillow.

Almost a month after she had come back, Sirius came to her in the library after dinner.

"Good practise today," he said with a satisfied smile and sat down on an armchair next to her.

Hermione, who always became nervous when she was alone with Sirius simply said "Mhm."

"What are you reading?" he asked and leaned toward her.

Hermione held up the book. "Arithmancy."

"I'm surprised you haven't been through all my books already," Sirius joked. "Why don't you take a break and join us for a trip to the club?"

Her heart almost skipped a beat. Did Sirius ask her this because he wanted her to come or because he felt sorry for her? She looked at him closely. He did seem eager to have her with them. Did that mean he might like her? They were frequently paired together during practise and it wasn't unusual that his hands would slip down to her arse. Although, maybe it was because she was so slippery. Or was it something more…? Well, there was only one way to find out!

"Yes, I think I could use a break," she said with a smiled and marked the page in the book. "What should I wear?"

"Nothing too fancy," Sirius said with a shrug. "Something you can dance in."

Hermione smiled brightly as she left the room to take a quick shower and get ready. She didn't have a lot of dance clothes, but she did own a black knee-length skirt and some nice t-shirts and tops. After a moment of thought, she decided to wear a red top to the skirt, in honour of her former school house Gryffindor. She pulled on her low heal boots and twisted her hair into a bun at the back of her head. With a little mascara and eyeliner, her brown eyes appeared even bigger and she thought she looked quite pretty.

When she came down to the kitchen, everyone was waiting for her. Everyone turned out to be, Sirius, Ron, Tonks and Ginny. Harry only waved them off; feeling a bit under the weather.

"You look good Hermione," Ron said shyly as they left the house.

Hermione just smiled at him. They had been a couple in their sixth year at Hogwarts and they had lost their virginity to each other. It hadn't lasted long, they were just too unlike. When summer came, they decided to break up. Ron had been a little cranky about it and Hermione had decided not to spend the summer at the Burrow. Instead, she had visited her old friend Viktor Krum. They had spent a very heated summer together with lots and lots of sex. However, in the end Hermione had been tired of Viktor. He was great in bed, but they didn't have so much in common outside of it.

Now there was Sirius. Hermione had decided that she would probably be unable to find an equal match among men her own age. However, Sirius was so much more experienced than her and that was what made her shy. What could she really offer a man nineteen years her senior? Hopefully something, although, he hasn't really looked at her since they left the house and now they were already at the club.

It was a Muggle club with a dance floor at the back. The place was dark with only blue lamps at the small tables. Tonks lead them all to one of the tables and they sat together quite tightly. To Hermione's great pleasure, she was squeezed in on a sofa next to the wall and Sirius. Ron sat next to Sirius and Tonks and Ginny at the opposite side of them. They all ordered a drink and it didn't take long for Ginny to disappear with a cute Muggle boy who wanted to dance. Ron didn't seem to like that, however he had promised not to step in unless Ginny asked for it. After two more rounds of alcohol Ron begged Tonks to dance with him so he could keep a closer look at his sister.

That left Hermione and Sirius alone at the table. Hermione, who felt more courageous after the alcohol, placed a hand on his knee. Sirius seemed a little surprised, but it didn't take long before he started some silent flirtation as well. He massaged the hand on his lap with one hand and started to caress her thigh with the other. Hermione could feel herself becoming flushed and a bit horny. Then, Sirius withdrew.

"How about another drink?" he asked in a low voice.

"Oh, okay," Hermione said breathlessly. This seemed to be going somewhere nice. Perhaps she wouldn't have to sleep alone in her bed tonight. Then she wouldn't have to just imagining him as she touched herself. He could touch her in that special way…

She zoomed out a bit as her fantasies became more and more incredible. After a while she realised that Sirius should be back by now. She looked up and over at the bar. He wasn't there. Her eyes travelled to the dance floor and spotted him together with a tall blond woman. She was holding a hand on his arse and he didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he was holding an arm around her shoulder and danced rather intimate with her.

It didn't take long for Hermione to realise that their flirtation hadn't mean anything for him. He was simply drunk. If Hermione had been sober, she may have just sighed and just called the night. However, she wasn't sober and making a scene seemed so much more fitting. She walked up to him (quite unsteady) and pushed him. When he turned to look at her, she slapped him, turned around and left the club.

Once out on the street, she started to feel very sad. How could Sirius just play with her like that? Hadn't he noticed that she liked him? Or did he just not care? All that time in prison must have made him heartless and mean and… really increased his hot bad boy look.

She walked the streets blindly and didn't even notice that it had begun to rain. She was too occupied feeling drunkenly sorry for herself. Was there something wrong with her? Was she not pretty enough? Or did men find her intellect disturbing?

"For Salazar's sake woman! You and your maddening feelings are giving me a bloody headache!" Someone gripped her shoulder and shook her. When she looked up, she saw Voldemort standing in front of her with the rain running over his face.

Her lower lip started to tremble. She didn't want to be captured again. Why was he here? Why did he have to be so mean to her, couldn't he see that she was sad?

Before she could stop herself, she had begun to cry. Voldemort cursed and dragged her across the street and into a night open coffee place. It wasn't anything special, but there were maybe half a dozen other customers there, despite the time of the night. Voldemort pushed her down on a chair and sat down across from her. He handed her a small vial with some blue liquor. She sniffed it and realised it was a sober-up potion. Why would Voldemort give her a sober-up potion?

She looked up at him and saw that he was grimacing. Was he in pain?

"Yes, I'm in pain," he hissed. "And I don't like it. Unless you take this sober-up potion and calm down, I'll start killing people."

Even if she knew he was the Dark Lord, she just couldn't believe him.

"Ten, nine," he started counting and she could see the hand holing the vial tremble.

She took the potion and swallowed it. An icy sensation ran through her body as the potion took effect. At once she could think more clearly. She hid her head in her hands when she realised what she had done. Merlin, she had caused such a scene and now Voldemort would kidnap her again and she just didn't want that!

"I said calm down," Voldemort mumbled. "I'm not going to kidnap you. If I had planned that, I would already have done it."

She took a couple of deep breathes. When she looked up she was still trembling slightly. "Why did you come here?"

"Because your angst, increased by your drunken state was giving me the worst headache I have had in years," Voldemort mumbled. "And now I need coffee, don't leave."

Hermione didn't dare leave as the Dark Lord went up to the counter. He came back a minute later with a steaming purple cup. Just as he was about to sit down he noticed her shivering. With a sigh he placed the cup on the table, undid his cloak and wrapped it around her.

"Thank you," she mumbled, a bit confused over the gesture.

"I will never know what possess young women to go dressed in barley anything at the middle of the night," Voldemort mumbled and brought the coffee cup to his lips.

"We where at a club," she mumbled. "Did you use a calming potion as well?"

"Feeling tired?"

She nodded.

"Yes, I did. I thought it was for the best. It doesn't interfere with the sober-up potion either."

They sat quiet for a while as he drank the coffee. She felt ready to fall asleep. His cloak was very warm and comfortable, plus it smelled quite nice, like an open fire and cedar. Nevertheless, she knew she shouldn't become too comfortable. This was a very dangerous man. Hermione straightened and felt that her wand was in place.

"How did you know where I was?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I didn't. I just thought about you and Apparated."

She gasped. "Can you always do that?"

"No, not if you are in a hidden location, like Hogwarts or the Order's headquarters," he said in an annoyed voice that told her he had tried.

"Oh, good," she said in relief.

There was silence again. He drank the last of his coffee and she removed some dirt from under her fingernails. The atmosphere in the coffee place was very hushed. Two customers had left and the others were talking in low voices, if they talked at all. The lamps were sending off a darker purplish light. Now when she thought about it, the tables and chairs were purple as well. It had to be a theme.

"Will you tell me what happened?" Voldemort asked after a while.

"Don't you already know?" she asked bitterly. He did seem to know what she was thinking most of the time.

"No. I could find out through other ways, but I thought I'd give you a chance to tell me yourself," he said in what would have been a friendly voice if it wasn't for the threat she knew he was giving her. If she didn't tell him, he would find out himself.

She sighed. "I thought someone liked me, we were flirting, and then he walked to buy drinks and didn't come back. Instead I found him groping some blond on the dance floor. I may have overreacted a little," she said and let out a groan. She had overreacted. It wasn't like she was in love with Sirius or anything either, it was just a silly little crush which had ended quite effectively now. She felt so stupid.

"Ah, Black, I presume?" he asked thoughtfully.

She looked up at him. "How did you know that?" Then a thought hit her. "Have you been inside my dreams?"

He smirked. "I wondered how long it would take for you to figure that out."

Her eyes widened. "You have been using me to spy on the Order!"

"Yes," he admitted and placed his elbows on the table and his fingertips together. "Although your constant dreaming of Black has made it difficult for me to find out anything useful. You really have a dirty imagination Granger. I don't think it's good for you to think that often about sex."

She stared at him. "Are your lecturing me for not being a good unwilling spy?"

"No, but I am counting on the fact that when you are aware that I can and am spying on you, you will constantly think about the things you don't want me to know and hence subconsciously tell me what you don't want to tell me," he explained quickly.

She blinked and it actually took her a couple of seconds to understand what he had just told her. "So you think that when you go into my dreams tonight, I'll tell you things I don't want you to know?"

He simply nodded.

"You are unbelievable," she said and rubbed her temple. "And I just want to go to sleep."

"Well, now that you have clamed down and I can hear my own thoughts again, I won't stop you," he said and stood. Now she saw that he was dressed very casually in a green shirt and black pants. She stood as well and together they left the coffee house.

It was still raining outside, but not so much as before. It was rather soothing as they walked slowly to the nearest ally. When he stopped and looked at her, she realised she was still wearing his cloak.

"Oh, sorry," she said and felt her face grew warm as she gave him back the cloak.

He pulled it on again and watched her curiously. "You think I smell nice?"

Her face grew even warmer. "Uh…"

"I have to agree, I do smell nice," he said thoughtfully.

For a wild moment she wondered if he thought she smelled nice as well. He blinked and she could feel something at the back of her head. He did think she smelled nice and… "You find me attractive?" she asked in wonder.

He scowled and it took him a second too long to answer. "Isn't that the plan with that outfit?"

She looked down at herself and remembered how hours before she had hoped Sirius would find her attractive. Now Voldemort did. What a strange night. She smiled; it was almost comical, the Dark Lord finding her attractive.

With a growl he pushed her into the wall. "Don't get so smug, Granger," he snarled into her ear as he pressed his full body against her. "I am not a man you want to tease, especially since I've been living in celibacy for the last nineteen years."

She had frozen, she didn't know what to say or do. Then she suddenly felt his hand over her right breast. He squeezed it and then she felt his teeth nibble her ear. "Or perhaps you want this. You did hunt after Black tonight. Perhaps you want to feel a real wizard. I assure you, Hermione, I'm so much more of a wizard than that dog will ever be."

She pushed him away. He didn't stop her, just smirked evilly at her when she straightened her clothes with trembling hands. "I would never dream about having sex with you," she said with as much venom as she could muster.

Voldemort's eyes were glowing as he looked at her from head to toe. "We will see about that."

Hermione wanted to cover herself but didn't. She didn't want to show him how scared she was. Not that it mattered, he knew she was scared. So instead of hanging around waiting for him to do something, she turned on the spot and Apparated away.

xxx

Voldemort cursed when he came back to Malfoy Manor. He hadn't meant to let the girl become aware of his attraction to her. It was just silly, really. There was just something about her that made his blood sing in that special way. Not that he had planned to do anything about her, but seeing her tonight… well, he had lost control over himself. It had been so long since he had felt a woman and her breast had felt so good in his hand and… Merlin he needed a fuck!

The problem was that he was the Dark Lord and as such he didn't just fuck the first person coming around. He was picky when it came to sex partners, perhaps if they freed Bella? Yes, she had always been fun in bed. Besides, it would be interesting to see how Granger reacted to that. Having sex while being connected to someone else was quite disturbing for the one who didn't have sex.

Voldemort entered his room and went straight to the shower in the bathroom. The bathroom was big with both a bathtub sunken into the floor and a glass shower at the far end. The main colours were green, white and silver. Lucius had never really been able to let go of his school house. Voldemort let the shower warm up to an almost painfully hot temperature before he stepped inside. He always preferred showers to bathtubs. At the orphanage he had always had to share an almost cold bath with at least one or two other boys. It had been very disgusting.

As the hot water ran over his head and body, he closed his eyes and searched for the girl inside his head. Since she was horrible at Occlumency it was never hard to enter her mind with a little concentration. It seemed like she was in a shower as well, trying to scrub him away. That would be very hard consider he was always with her. Not that he usually went into her mind during the day to see what she was up to. He usually waited for the night when she was asleep. It was much easier to follow her there. If he stayed with her during the day, he always got a headache and became tired.

When he was done in the shower, he wrapped himself in a robe and went out to his room. He hardly had any personal possessions in the room, only some books in a bookshelf and clothes in a wardrobe. For strategic reasons he had choose one of the smaller rooms on the first floor. If there was an attack, he could escape unnoticed through the window which was only five feet over the back yard.

He chose a random book and lay down in his bed to read. It was just after two in the morning, but he wasn't tired. Not that became tired easily, two-three hours of meditation was just as good as a full night sleep if you knew the right technique. Sometimes it was nice to get real sleep, but why waste the time if you didn't have to?

At four o'clock he placed the book on floor and turned to his back. After a couple of deep breaths he felt his body start to relax. It didn't take long for him to fall into trance, only minutes. He let his thoughts wander freely for a while, then he searched his own mind and found the passage over to Granger's. She was asleep and not dreaming at the moment. He took the opportunity to look at her memories. It was very hard to look at someone's memories when they were awake; they noticed when you were looking at them.

He skipped the memories of her early childhood and jumped straight into the ones from Hogwarts. He wasn't surprised to find that she had been very lonely at first. Then she had met Potter and Weasley and everything had been dangerous and exciting. Voldemort snickered when he came to her memory of when Potter had come back after Voldemort's resurrection. He had been all bloody and crying. After that, summer had come and she had been home with her parents and nothing had happened. Or, had it? Voldemort stopped at a memory that was still quite clear in her brain. McGonagall had come to her parent's house one night to tell her that she would come to the Order's headquarters. The Professor gave Granger a note. Voldemort made the memory freeze and went up to Granger. The note was a message from Dumbledore telling her where the Order could be found. At Grimmauld Place number twelve. Voldemort was surprised that he could read it at all. He had never heard that you could get to know a Secret Keeper's secret through a memory. Oh, this was exciting! He would have to see if he could enter the house sometime!

Before he had time withdraw from her mind, she slipped into REM-sleep. Voldemort decided that he could stay a little longer.

They were in a forest this time. He had since long noticed that she preferred dreaming about places outdoors. He didn't mind at all, he too preferred the nature in front of being locked inside a house. She was sitting together with some Weasleys and Potter. He sat down behind her and listed to what they talked about.

"No, no, no, if you have a snake, you shan't eat it," one of the Weasleys said. Voldemort had no idea who he was but he seemed to be the oldest. "That is cruel."

"But if we stuff it with candy, it will be more tasteful," Potter objected. For some reason he wasn't wearing glasses.

"Candy is only for Saturday!" An older woman had appeared inside the circle. Voldemort assumed she was Granger's mother. They were alike. "Hermione, you know better than eating candy all the time."

"But I haven't eaten any candy," Granger objected. She seemed almost panicking. "It just smelled so good and I wanted to try it, but I didn't! I swear."

"You know you wanted to eat it," another Weasley said. "You wanted to taste it."

Granger's mother seemed sad. "I thought we had raised you better, Hermione. That kind of candy isn't for eating."

Voldemort found the conversation very amusing. This was a code for something else. He couldn't resist teasing her. "You should listen to your mother, Granger. Candy isn't good for you."

Everyone else disappeared when Granger became aware of him. She turned around with a horrid expression. "What are you doing here?"

He tilted his head. "I told you I'd be back. What type of candy did you speak about?"

"I… I don't know." She was suddenly wearing a wedding dress in white. "I'm getting married."

She stood up and the scene changed and they were in a church. When she started to walk toward the priest at the end, he realised she had forgotten about him. He followed her. When they came down to the priest he saw a faceless man standing there. Or, he wasn't really faceless, just blurry.

"Who is he?" Voldemort asked.

Granger turned to him with a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't you remember what we talked about earlier?" he asked.

She tilted her head. "You are spying on me."

He nodded. "Anything you want to tell me?"

She shook her head. "I'm about to get married. Go away."

He looked at the blurry man again. "To whom?"

She shrugged and flowers had appeared in her hands. "It doesn't matter. I'm about to get married."

"Yes, but you can't marry without a man," he objected. This whole dream was more surreal than he was used to.

Granger smiled and the flowers fell on the ground. "Of course, you are right." Suddenly they were standing on the beach again. The sea seemed more upset than usual. She turned to him with her hand in her side. "I'm not going to tell you anything so you may as well go."

He realised she now was more aware of her dream. She was probably just about to wake up. "Why don't you tell me something interesting?"

"No, I won't!" she hissed. "Go away!"

"What do you think Potter's greatest fear is?" he tired.

For a moment he saw a Dementor coming at them, then Granger closed her eyes and it disappeared. Voldemort had seen enough. "Told you," he said smugly. Then he left her dream to let her worry all by herself.

xxx

Hermione was feeling slightly depressed. Voldemort was inside her head and she never knew when he was spying on her. She tried to stay away from her friends so she didn't hear anything that could help Voldemort, but since she didn't want them to become suspicious it was hard. Alas, she decided to hide among her books, pretending to be searching for something.

Three days after the night she had found out what Voldemort was doing, Sirius entered the library. He seemed to be very uncomfortable being there. They hadn't spoken since the night at the club.

"Hi," he said uncomfortably and sat down in the armchair next to hers. "We hardly see anything of you these days, how are you?"

Hermione looked up from the book. The first thing she realised was that she didn't feel anything when she looked at him. Three days ago, her stomach had fluttered by the sight of him. "I'm fine, I just like to read."

"Ah, yes, of course," Sirius said and crossed his legs. "I just wanted to know if we were okay. That night at the club… I didn't mean to… give you any false hope. Don't get me wrong, you are a very sweet girl, but you are at the same age as Harry. It would just not feel right."

Sirius had turned his big black puppy eyes at her and she found herself wanting to ease his worries. "Don't worry about it, Sirius. I was just drunk and horny and I… well, I overreacted a little." There was no point telling him she had had a crush on him. It was over now and she had other things to worry about. Like Voldemort who didn't seem to think she was too young.

Sirius sank back in the armchair at her words. "Good. I'm glad we talked. The Order meeting will begin in half-an-hour, by the way."

She just nodded as he stood and left the room again. Once the door was closed, Hermione placed the book on the table next to her and started to massage her temples. She really hoped Voldemort wasn't listing right now. She had already tried to enter his mind, but it was like a wall. If she concentrated, she could sense what he was feeling but not anything else. Although, she may get a hint on what he was doing if she found out what he was feeling.

With that thought, she closed her eyes and searched for him at the back of her brain. He was angry. Since Hermione didn't do anything that would make him angry, she guessed he wasn't inside her brain but angry at someone else. That was a relief.

Twenty minutes later she walked to the kitchen. Most of the Order was already there and Hermione sat down to talk with Ginny. The red-haired girl had joined the Order when she had graduated from Hogwarts four months ago. They talked a little about some boy Ginny had recently met and wanted to trick into bed. Hermione only chuckled at her friend's seduction games.

Five minutes later, the meeting began. Hermione listened carefully as Snape told them all some things he had found out at Voldemort's headquarters. Then there were almost half-an-hour discussion about what to do with that information.

"What about Bellatrix Lestrange?" Remus Lupin asked after a while. "The temporary prison we have for her is just that, temporary."

Dumbledore seemed more tired than usually this day. "There are secret prison cells in Azkaban. I have managed to get the keys to one of them. We will move her on Saturday."

The meeting ended not long after that. There wasn't much information to share. Voldemort and the Death Eaters hadn't done anything special in months. Just the usual Muggle torture and some attempts on Harry's and Dumbledore's lives. It was almost like Voldemort didn't want to try to really take over before Dumbledore and Harry were dead.

After the meeting Hermione helped with dinner. Mrs Weasley had decided that Harry, Hermione, Sirius and Remus (which were permanently living at Grimmauld Place) looked too thin and needed some real food. When evening came, Hermione had been beaten in chess by both Ron and Harry and made a mock-annoyed retreat to her room. She read until midnight and then went to bed.

She had almost fallen asleep when she heard a crack and felt someone land next to her. For a moment she thought it was Ron, but then he placed a hand over her mouth.

"Hello, Hermione," Voldemort whispered, his red eyes gleaming in the dark.

She let out a muffled scream.

"Hush, girl," he said in a low voice. "We don't want anyone to notice us, right?"

Hermione tried to bite his hand. Voldemort chuckled and withdrew it.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Just testing a theory. You know how people think that a Fidelius Charm is one of the safest protection spells there is? I just found out that they aren't that safe," he mused and placed his hand on her hip.

"How did you do it?" she asked in a low voice.

"Now, now, that would be telling." He seemed awfully cheery over his success.

"What are you planning to do now?" she asked worryingly. After all, everyone was asleep. Voldemort could just walk from room to room and kill them one by one. Although, if he was planning to kill people, why was he starting to stroke her hip and arse?

He actually had to think about it. That was a good sign, yes? "Well, it depends on you," he finally said. "I have to be back in an hour so I can either tie you up and go and kill all your friends, or I could stay here and have sex with you. However, it really depends on you. I hate to fuck crying women so I won't rape you."

Hermione stared at him. That wasn't even a choice. "Are you stupid? Of course I'd rather sleep with you than let you kill all of my friends."

He smiled at that and his hand wandered in under her sleeping t-shirt. Hermione swallowed and could feel her heartbeat increase when he stroked the outside of her breast. She never broke eye contact with him. He slowly came closer to her and kissed her feather light on her lips. Hermione let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, it didn't feel as horrible as she had suspected, even if she was still scared. His hand went to caress her back as he captured her mouth more forcefully. For a moment Hermione wondered why she wasn't feeling sick by his kiss, but then he squeezed her arse and she stopped thinking. His kiss was hard and pleasurable, a little like she had imagined Sirius to be, but better. He sucked her lower lip and as his hand travelled even further down and in between her legs. Hermione let out a small groan when he stroked the inside of her thigh.

Then he suddenly broke free of her mouth. "No, I'm not stupid."

She found herself bound and gagged by an invisible force. Her eyes widened in horror when she realised what he meant.

"You really shouldn't think that all men would give up everything for a fuck," he advised her and turned toward the door. "That is not how you succeed."

A rage she had never felt before entered her body. How dare he do that to her? Like a child who put up magical shields when in danger, Hermione's fury broke down Voldemort's magical bounds.

"YOU EVIL WORM DUNG!" she screamed and threw herself at him. How dare he use her as a way to kill her friends? She started to punch him everywhere she could reach on his face, his chest and arms. She was going to kill him. Not only because he had said he was going to kill her friends, but for playing with her. Mostly because he dared to play with her.

Voldemort managed to hit her as well, but he didn't get the upper hand. Then someone ripped her away from him. She fought against the hands holding her back, her eyes at Voldemort who was quickly standing up. His left eye was swollen and he seemed to be bleeding both from his nose and mouth. That didn't stop him from holding his wand out in front of him and have a smile on his lips. At least she thought he was smiling, it was hard to tell with his lips being all swollen.

"I'm impressed, Hermione," Voldemort said in a hoarse voice. She had tried to strangle him at one point. "I didn't know you had all that darkness inside you."

"Shut up," she growled and made another attempt to break free.

Voldemort at once became very serious. "No, you shut up. If you for a second believe that I'll make you get away with this, you are sadly mistaken. I'll be in touch." With that he Apparated away.

It took her a couple of minutes to realise that she wasn't alone. Remus was still holding her and Sirius, Harry, Ginny and Ron were standing in the doorway staring at her. She pulled away from Remus and he let her go. When she went over to sit on the bed again, she started to feel how hurt she was. Her cheek and arm were throbbing painfully, as did her right hand and leg. Her lip was split and she wiped away some of the blood with the hem of her t-shirt.

"What… how… who was that?" Remus finally asked.

"Voldemort," Harry whispered from the door. He seemed rather pale. "That was Voldemort."

The other four gasped.

"What was he doing here?" Ron wanted to know and they all turned toward Hermione.

She couldn't help it, she started to cry. All the anger just disappeared and she felt empty and dirty. Also used. She had kissed him! She had kissed Voldemort! How could she be so stupid to think that… no, she shouldn't blame herself. It wasn't her fault he was such an evil bastard.

Ginny hurried over to her and helped her to bed. She commanded one of the boys to go and get some ice, water and bandages. A moment later Hermione found herself being patted with a cold wet towel. Remus went to fetch a healing potion and after she drank it, she felt a little better.

"If that was really Voldemort, shouldn't we flee to a safer location?" Ron asked uncertainly. He was sitting at the end of her bed together with Harry. Remus transformed a chair and Ginny was sitting with Hermione at the top of the bed. Sirius had gone to call for the school nurse and Dumbledore.

"I don't think he will be back tonight," Hermione whispered. "He won't let his Death Eaters see him beaten up."

"Yeah, you got him good, Hermione," Ron commented. He seemed to be both scared and amazed. "How did you do it?"

She made a grimace. "He said that he was going to kill you all and it made me angry."

The four stared at her. "So you just… jumped him and started to beat him?" Harry asked.

Hermione pulled her knees up against her chest. "Something like that."

There were an uncomfortable silent and then Sirius and Dumbledore entered the room with Madam Pomfrey who was carrying a medicine bag. All of them were wearing housecoats over their nightclothes. The moment the nurse saw Hermione, she started to mumble things about wars and evil wizards and went straight up to her to do an examination.

"It isn't as bad as it looks," Pomfrey finally said. "Bruises and some fractures on the right fist. Drink this tonight and this one tomorrow and you'll feel as good as new." She handed Hermione two jars with some purple potion. "Now, if you excuse me, I want to get back to bed."

"Yes, of course, thank you Poppy," Dumbledore said and nodded and the nurse as she left the room. Once she was gone, he pulled out a chair from thin air and sat down next to Hermione. "Now, Miss Granger, I'd like to hear what have happened."

Hermione took a deep breath and looked around in the room. They were all staring at her with serious faces. "I'm not sure. He said that he had found a way to break the spell that keeps us hidden. Then he said that he was going to kill you all and I became so angry I just wanted to hurt him."

Dumbledore looked thoughtfully at her for a couple of moments and then seemed to decide that he believed her. "Why do you think he choose to enter your room instead of the kitchen which is unguarded?"

Hermione frowned. "Because he knows how to find me, didn't Snape tell you about that?"

Harry's eyes were wide. "How does he know that?"

Hermione looked uncomfortably at Dumbledore who ignored Harry's question. "I think it's best if I hear your version of it, Miss Granger. Could we have some privacy?"

Sirius and Remus left quickly, but Ron, Ginny and Harry were more reluctant to go.

"I'll tell you later," Dumbledore said calmly and shooed them out of the room. Once the door was closed he placed a silencing charm around the door. When he saw Hermione's arched eyebrows he smiled. "I do know about you and your friends' tendencies to hear things you aren't supposed to hear."

Hermione blushed.

Dumbledore crossed his legs and pushed his glasses further up on his nose. "Now I would like to hear you explain your connection to Voldemort."

She sighed and looked down at her naked feet. Dumbledore could always make her feel like she was twelve years old and had done something stupid again. "Ever since that ritual we have been able to sense each other's emotions. Lately I have also realised that he can see my thoughts as well. I could probably see his, but he uses Occlumency against me. I met him that night when we all went to the club. I was… upset and he could sense it. It gave him a headache and he came to calm me down. Then I found out that he had tried to use me as a spy. He comes to me in my dreams. I don't know what I may have told him… and tonight he came here."

The Headmaster sat quietly for a full minute. "A week ago Severus told me that Voldemort had yet to find something useful from you. Now that he seems to have found something we need to take precaution."

Hermione felt like she had had a bucket of cold water thrown over her. "I can't stay with them, can I?"

The old man sighed and seemed even older than before. "I'm afraid not. Neither can anyone stay here with the risk of Voldemort entering."

She made a grimace. "It's my fault. If I hadn't…"

Dumbledore took her hand. "No good comes from blaming ourselves. Right now we need to think of a solution. Maybe it would be best for you to go back to your parents for a while?"

Hermione's eyes went wide. "No! He will hurt them if he finds out where they live." Her parents had strong security around their house and dental practise and so far no one had hurt them. Voldemort would most definitely use them against her if he found out where they were.

"Are you certain? After all, he hasn't hurt you." Dumbledore seemed so calm. For a moment Hermione wondered if he was punishing her for letting Voldemort use her.

"That's because he thinks he can use me as an unwilling spy," Hermione remarked, a bit harsher than she had intended.

Dumbledore stroked his long white beard. "Then I guess you'll have to stay here alone until you have managed to learn to close your mind against him. I think Remus will be a good teacher, don't you agree?" Dumbledore rose.

Hermione stared at him. "You are just going to abandon me?"

The Headmaster had an unreadable face. "Not at all, we will simply regroup. You are an excellent student, I'm certain you will learn quickly."

"Then why didn't you start to train me the moment Snape told you about the bond?" Hermione demanded to know.

Dumbledore looked at her sadly. "Because I underestimated the danger of the bond."

xxx

Severus had a very busy night. At two o'clock he had been woken up by a terrified House-Elf who claimed that the Dark Lord needed him. Once there he had to suffer curse after curse as he was supposed to cure his master. Apparently he had been in a hand-to-hand fight and lost, although he wouldn't say against whom.

Around five o'clock, when he stopped shaking by the side effects of the Cruciatus Curse, went back to his rooms at Hogwarts and a displeased Dumbledore was waiting for him. However, this master was sympathetic enough to let Severus drink a pepper-up potion before they talked.

"Why didn't you tell me Voldemort had full access to Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked. They were sitting across from each other in Severus' living room armchairs.

"Because I didn't know," Severus answered truthfully. "He never told me anything about their bond, I guessed most of it."

Dumbledore sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Did you just heal him?"

Severus was too tired to be surprised. "Do you know what hurt him?"

"That would be Miss Granger when _she _found out what he could to with the bond."

Severus was also too tired to be impressed. "Really? If the Dark Lord was a normal man it would take days for his injuries to heal. But I thought Miss Granger was safe at the headquarters? How did he find her?"

"Apparently he has found a way to break through the Fidelius Charm. However, I think he only managed to break in because Miss Granger knew the secret," Dumbledore said in a low voice. "I have already found another location for the Order, but until Miss Granger learns Occlumency properly she will have to stay in the dark."

"You'll leave her alone?" Severus asked as expressionless as he could, although inside he was horrified. The Dark Lord would kill her! Not that he liked Miss Granger, it was just that she was the best student he had ever had (not that he would ever admit it) and he was certain she would grow to do magnificent things once the war was over. Now the Dark Lord would probably kill her because she had become useless.

"There will be security and Remus has promised to teach her Occlumency every day," Dumbledore explained, however, Severus could see that the man didn't like it any better than he did.

"Potter will be angry if she dies," Severus mumbled darkly and sank down in the chair. "He will probably do something reckless and get us all killed."

"Don't you think I'm aware of that?" Dumbledore hissed. It wasn't often the Headmaster lost his temper, but it only proved that Dumbledore had a tiring night as well. "But if I let her continue to be with us, Voldemort will come back and probably kill them all. I don't know what possessed him to give her a warning about it, but we can only thank Merlin he did and that Miss Granger could fight him off. It won't work a second time."

Severus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I shall try to convince the Dark Lord that the girl can be of further use. However, if I shall manage to pull that stunt, I desperately need some sleep."

Dumbledore nodded and stood. "Good thing it's Saturday. I won't expect you for breakfast."

Severus looked at the clock, it was almost six. "Don't expect me for lunch either."

Dumbledore gave him a weak smile. "Do sleep well."

Severus merely nodded. Five minutes later he could finally sink down in his bed and get some well earned rest.

xxx

Voldemort had conjured a mirror in front of his armchair. A day had gone by since Granger beaten him black and blue and he still was. Even with Severus' potions. The girl had some fists. He also guessed that there had been magic involved, one little girl couldn't do all this harm. Her anger must have invoked her magic.

With a flick of his wand he called for a House-Elf to bring him some wine. He wasn't a heavy drinker but now he felt that he needed it. It was dark outside and everyone was asleep. Well, except the ones who were on a mission to free Bella. Severus had given him that information when he had been there yesterday.

Granger would soon regret hurting him. Once Bella was here Voldemort would show Granger why it wasn't so nice to the other part of the bond if the first one had sex. He wouldn't make it quick either. Granger would suffer. Oh, well, he had only read that it would be an unpleasant experience for her, but he hoped it was true. Otherwise it wasn't such a horrible thing to try. Bella had always been something extra in bed. However, it would have to wait a couple of days. First he needed to heal properly. He didn't want his Death Eaters to know that a mere girl could hurt him.

xxx

Hermione felt bitter and lonely. Remus came by two hours every day, otherwise her only company was the House-Elf Dumbledore had left her "so she wouldn't have to bother with house-hold work and instead practice on shutting You-Know-Who out from her brain". Or at least that's what Molly had said. Hermione guessed the House-Elf was also there to spy on her and make sure she behaved and didn't ask Voldemort over for tea or something like that.

A week after everyone except her had evacuated Grimmauld Place, Hermione was sitting in the library. Reading was almost all she ever did these days. She had tried to work out, but it just wasn't the same without the others there. Also, it was quite hard with all the rare books Sirius had in his library. It wasn't that Hermione put books as a first priority, but it had always been a nice escape from her lonely reality.

"Hello Hermione."

Hermione looked up and saw Remus entering the living room. He was as usual dressed in an old well-worn robe and with his hair untidy, like just got out from bed. Nevertheless, he was smiling friendly and she could never stay sour long in his presence.

"Hi Remus, how are you?" she asked and put the book away.

"Good and you? Have you been practising?" He sat down on the armchair opposite from her.

She straightened up. "Not much more to do around here, is there?"

It had been meant as a joke, but Remus didn't seem amused. Instead, he sighed. "Harry and Ron are angry with Dumbledore for not letting them be with you."

Hermione looked down in her hands. "It's for the best, I guess. I mean, I don't want Voldemort to kill them."

"They know that. We all know that. Besides, it won't be long now, you have been making a lot of progress. Shall we see if you can throw me out from your mind today?" Remus asked and took out his wand from his robe.

Hermione just nodded and looked into his eyes. She focused on keeping her mind blank and all her thoughts hidden behind a massive wall. During their sessions she had noticed that it was much easier if she stayed calm. However, it wasn't easy to say calm when she was upset with this whole situation all the time.

Nevertheless, she wasn't the best student for nothing and when Remus tried to enter her brain, she could easily keep it blank for him. He tried to break her wall a few times until she pushed him out.

"Excellent work!" Remus said with a smile. "I think we can try harder things now. Did Severus ever tell you about how to only show the thoughts you want to show, it's tricky but I have every confidence in you."

Hermione was about to ask him more about it when she felt a shudder run down her spine. Was a window open? No, there was never one open on this floor. She quickly forgot about it and listened to Remus explanation. It appeared that different people had different ways to trick their memories. When Remus explained about what Snape had told him, Hermione felt another shudder. This one was stronger and left her trembling. She felt very uneasy. Was she getting down with something?

"Are you alright?" Her discomfort must be showing because Remus seemed worried.

"I don't know," Hermione said slowly. "Maybe something I ate… ah!" This tremble made her fall down on the floor. Her body seemed to be on fire as she trembled. The fire seemed to come from her groin and she desperately wanted to rub her pussy but she was still aware of Remus being there.

"Bathroom," she gasped and half ran, half stumbled out in the hallway and into the bathroom. It was small, but she could sink down on the floor between the toilet and the sink. She put her head against the blue stone wall and tried to rub away the ache from between her legs. It only increased the feeling. It wasn't that she was horny, but she just knew she needed some kind of sexual relief.

Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander. There was something at the back of her head. When she went there, it felt like she sank into someone else. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear, taste and, most importantly, feel. At once, she realised that she was a man because the feeling came from something _down there_she wasn't used to feel. It wasn't the same as when she rubbed her clit, but it was just as pleasurable.

"Oh, Merlin, yes!"

Hermione recognised the voice as Voldemort's. The devil was having sex! With whom she could only guess although now she realised why he had advised her not to have sex with anyone. This feeling was very uncomfortable. It was Voldemort's pleasure and Hermione had no way of controlling it. She felt violated in some way and didn't want this feeling. She wasn't horny and hadn't agreed to this.

She didn't know how long she sat there, feeling like she was going to implode if she didn't have a release. Every time Voldemort changed position and angle, she saw what he was seeing. It wasn't pleasant. He was in an unfamiliar room, mostly on top of a bed with a very skinny woman with long black hair. After a while, Hermione realised it was Bellatrix Lestrange and it made her feel even sicker.

Then, finally Voldemort did something that Hermione thought must have been quite painful for Mrs Lestrange and climaxed quite hard, groining something that sounded terrible like "Hermione". Hermione sank back into her own body and immediately lurched for the toilet.

xxx

It took Voldemort almost a full minute to realise he had just said the wrong name in bed. Bella was watching him with a mix of surprise and anger.

"What did you say?" she asked in a low voice.

Voldemort sighed. "Nothing Bella, I was just thinking of something else."

"Of this… Hermione? Who is she?" Bella demanded to know.

"No one, Bella, let it go," Voldemort answered annoyed. It had been his first fuck in decades and he felt quite sleepy.

Thankfully, Bella shut up and simply got out from the bed and left the room. Voldemort smiled to himself, thinking about the girl he had most certainly left quite uncomfortable now. He would have to visit her later to see what she thought about it. She had been there, he had felt it. That was why he had said her name. What if she had liked it as well? Oh, that would be interesting! Not that he thought so, no. But it would be funny… and with that thought he drifted off to the land of dreams.

xxx

Severus had been invited to dinner at Malfoy Manor together with Lucius, Narcissa, the Lestrange brothers, Antonin Dolohov, Macnair and Yaxley. After dinner, they retreated into the living-room to enjoy some coffee. Lucius had placed a chess board on a small table and was right now playing with Rabastan. Severus was sitting next to Lucius, smirking every time the blond man did a mistake. The others were watching while talking quietly to each other.

It was late afternoon when Bella stormed into the room, her hair in a mess and her robe wrinkly. She also stank of sex.

"That… man isn't our Lord," she growled. "He is an impostor! Why haven't any of you noticed?"

The air in the room tensed at once. Severus made sure he could make a quick escape through the window if necessary.

"What makes you think that, Bella?" Lucius asked, hiding his uncertainty very effectively.

"I was his mistress for twenty years!" Bella's voice was high and very unpleasant to listen to. "Don't you think I can tell when something is wrong? Not only did he feel different, he said a Mudblood's name!"

Severus could see how the wheels in Lucius' mind were spinning fast. "Who's name?"

"Hermione," Bella said it like if it were a curse. "I looked it up and the only Hermione we know is Potter's Mudblood."

Lucius' eyes were cold and Severus knew something bad was about to happen. "He did protect her quite passionately when she was held a prisoner here and I always thought there were something wrong with her escape. But what makes you think he isn't our Lord?"

"Everything!" Bella's hands were flying through the air. "The way he moves, talks and act. Haven't you noticed how he hasn't sent any of us away on a big mission lately? It's like he has been… exchanged."

"How could that have happened?" Rodolphus asked his wife.

Bella seemed at a loose of words and luckily for her, Lucius cut in. "The ritual! He said that he had done a ritual which made him more powerful. Granger was with him then and so was… Severus."

Everyone turned to look at the Potions Master. Severus felt quite unsafe. It seemed like Lucius was working on a plan to advance in power. Well, it wouldn't be the first time. Lucius was always trying to get more power in someway. Or… maybe this was a good thing. If he got the Death Eaters to turn on Voldemort, there would be a long fight about who would be in charge next. The Order and the Aurors would just have to pick them out one by one!

"Do you know anything, Severus?" Antonin was the one to speak now.

Severus stood up and make sure he had his wand within reach. "No, I have no idea what you are talking about. I merely did the research for the ritual."

Bella had pulled her wand out. "So you did have something to do with it? What have you done with the Dark Lord? Who is the impostor?"

Sometimes action is better than words. Severus merely smiled at her anger, then, before anyone had time to hex him, he lurched through the window and Disapparated. Now they would most definitely think he had something to do with it and that Voldemort was really an imposter.

To sum it up, a good days work.


	2. Pardon me for rescuing you

Hello again, I'm glad that so many seems to like this story and even glader that so many took time to review! It makes me so happy! And I really need some happiness right now. I have some serious missing-my-lover-ache. Booo.

Oh, well, on with the show!

* * *

Chapter 1 – Pardon me for rescuing you

Voldemort woke up when he felt people entering his room. Unfortunately he was still tired and didn't sense the danger until he was already tied and wandless. Before he managed to do anything he had been transported down to the dungeons by a House-Elf.

What the hell was going on? Voldemort tried to break free from the bonds, but they were one of those special goblin made chains which made it impossible to use magic. Only the richest Death Eaters had them. Had they overthrown him? Why? Sure, Lucius had always been eager to be at the top, but he was also very frightened of the Dark Lord. What had changed? Shouldn't he have noticed? It had to be something drastic…

The metal door to his cell opened and Bella and Lucius entered. Voldemort frowned and was about to ask what was going on when Bella kicked him hard on the chest.

"Where is the real Dark Lord?" she shrieked and kicked him again. "We know that you, Snape, and that Mudblood did something to him during that 'ritual'. Didn't you think we would find out? Didn't you think we would see that you aren't our real Lord?"

Oh, so that was what this was about. Bella thought he was an imposter because he said Granger's name in the bed. It would have been funny if her kicks weren't so hard.

"I am the real Dark Lord," he hissed, feeling his anger rising. "And I'm going to punish both of you severely once I get out from here."

That at least made Bella a bit doubtful. Lucius however seemed to enjoy this far too much to let the truth be told.

"Don't be ridiculous," Lucius huffed. "Everyone knows that the Dark Lord can't be hurt. Don't let him fool you Bella, I'll show you." With that he flicked his wand and broke Voldemort's leg.

Voldemort let out a gasp of pain. Bella took that as proof of what Lucius told her was true and gladly helped her brother-in-law with the torture. As he got crucioed, broken and smacked around, Voldemort thought about the irony that this wouldn't have happened if he had shown weakness before. However, if he had shown weakness, he wouldn't have stayed the Dark Lord for so long.

After three hours, they left him alone in a bloody pile on the floor. Lucius had removed the magical chains and put on ordinary ones instead. The problem with magical chains was that it drained the power of the guard for as long as it was actively keeping someone bound. Not that Voldemort had the power to use magic now. All his powers were on staying alive. Bella had been extra aggressive when he had said he was the Dark Lord. When he asked them to use a truth potion on him, Lucius only laughed and said that if Severus was in on it, he was probably immune against it. Voldemort knew Lucius only said it because he wanted it to be so. Lucius probably thought it was his time to shine now by becoming the new Dark Lord.

Voldemort would kill them all once he got out from here. However, that would probably prove to be hard. Who would help him if all his Death Eaters thought he was an imposter?

Hm… why not ask the person who had got him into this mess to begin with? He closed his eyes and sensed her at the back of his head. She had been trying to get in for two hours now, probably sensing him being tortured.

"_Granger?__"_ he asked mentally.

"_What? How do you do that? I have such a headache, what is happening to you? I think I'm going to vomit. Are you hurt? Yes, of course you are, I can feel that. Why do I care that you are hurt, I__'__m glad you are. You are a horrible person. But why do I have to feel it as well? It isn't fair __…"_

"_Control yourself, woman!__"_ he ordered her. "_Keep your own thoughts to yourself and just focus on what you want me to know.__"_

"_Oh, okay, sorry. I haven__'__t done this before._" The rest of her thoughts were still there, but in the background. He would have to do with that.

"_What happened to you?__"_she wondered.

"_The Death Eaters think I__'__m an imposter. They tortured me. I think they will kill me if I don__'__t get out from here soon. You have to help me!__"_

When she managed to keep her thoughts to herself, he realised that she had been practising on her Occlumency. However, if he had tried, he would probably have been able to hear her thoughts anyway. Lucky for her, he was way too tired to try.

"_Why would I help you?__"_ she finally asked.

"_Isn't it what you do? Besides, it will be very painful for you if they kill me, you may even die._" Okay, that could be a lie. He didn't read anything about what happened if one of the persons sharing the bond died. Perhaps nothing would happen at all. Although he guessed that the Death Eaters wouldn't let him go easily and that would be very painful for Granger as well.

"_I have to think about it. Leave me alone for a while.__"_ With that she put up her Occlumency shield. Voldemort felt stunned. He didn't think it would be hard to convince Granger that she needed to save him! Sure, he had tried to kill all her friends and had held her kidnapped for a couple of days, but still.

However, before he had time to try to sway her into helping him, the cell door opened again and some new Death Eaters entered. He knew them well enough not to expect tea and cookies.

xxx

Hermione hugged the tea mug in her hands where she sat alone at the kitchen table. Voldemort was being tortured again, she could feel it. It made her feel sick and sad. She didn't think that anyone deserved being tortured. Although, Voldemort himself tortured a great deal of people and most would think it wasn't more than right that he was now being hurt. However, Hermione's mother had always told her that you couldn't think like that because then you would be just as bad as them.

Then again, Voldemort was like the devil. Who would she help by saving him? Well, except herself. If he wasn't in pain, she wouldn't be. Her head felt like it was about to explode. Now she knew how he had managed to find her when she had left the club that night. She knew that if she tried to Apparate now she would immediately get to his side.

Merlin she couldn't take this! She had to save him.

Before she had time to change her mind, she Apparated. She landed next to a bleeding body. When she looked up she saw three men standing in black robes. She recognised one of them as Lucius Malfoy. Before anyone had time to react, she grabbed Voldemort's wrist and Apparated back to Grimmauld Place. The whole procedure didn't take more than one minute and yet she felt like she had just run a marathon. Her heart was racing!

Voldemort had fallen down on the floor and was shaking, probably because of the hexes and curses they had cast on him. Hermione levitated him with her wand into the bigger bathroom. He was bleeding and would most likely throw up. She didn't wish to clean the bed over and over again all night. Besides, all the potions were in the bathroom. The first one she gave him was a cramp reducing and after ten horrible minutes, where Hermione received her fair share of kicks, he finally stop shaking. After another five minutes, she gave him a pain-killer potion and a potion that would start to mend his broken bones.

As she worked with him, she refused to feel how scared she really was. She even managed to forget who he actually was. All she saw was another assignment. Only once did she think about just ending his life, but found it impossible to speak the two words that would do it. She realised she would regret it her whole life if she did it. When he was better, he could be put in front of a judge and get a life long sentence in Azkaban.

She had brought him there early in the evening and was very surprised when she realised it was midnight. Voldemort had fallen asleep in the bathtub and Hermione was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. She couldn't take her eyes away from the man she had saved. His face was so pale under the bruises and his black hair lay lifeless around his face. He sometimes groaned in his sleep, but Hermione had looked three times to see if he had any internal injuries and she hadn't found any she hadn't been able to fix.

The worst seem to be over. Or at least when it came to his injuries. There was still the matter of how she would tell the others that she had helped him escape. Dumbledore and Remus may understand, but the others would be furious. How could she explain and not make them hate her?

Now when she sat down she realised how tired she really was. Her head was spinning and she felt drained of all power. She was hungry and thirsty as well, but she didn't want the House-Elf to come and see Voldemort. Oh, Merlin, the House-Elf! She reported back to Dumbledore! What if she had already told the Headmaster that Hermione had brought a man home with her? Of course, Dumbledore would not guess who it was, but maybe they would come back to see that she was okay? She didn't count on knowing solely that Remus would come over the next afternoon.

"I can hear you, you know," came a low and broken voice from the bathtub. She looked up and saw Voldemort staring at her. He looked very tired, but much better than when she had first brought him here. "And I just want to let you know that if…" He started to cough. Hermione stood and fetched him a glass of water.

"Are you going to threaten me now? What a way to thank your saviour," Hermione said bitterly as he drank. Well, what did she expect? Voldemort wasn't called the Dark Lord because he used to give flowers to old ladies.

"I won't go to prison," Voldemort finally said with his head resting against the wall. "Besides, nothing short of a Dementor's Kiss will keep me, and I think I know what your opinion on that is."

Hermione made a grimace. "No, I don't like them. But only one has managed to break free from Azkaban before."

He broke out in a weak laugh. "And you think Sirius Black is a better wizard than I?"

"Much better," Hermione said angrily. Why had she gone through the trouble to save him? He was the Dark Lord for crying out loud! Just because he had been tortured and she didn't like it when people suffered… she noticed how he was smiling and realised she had forgotten to put up her Occlumency shields again. Merlin, she needed sleep.

"Come on, Granger, when you start something you should go through with it," he said teasingly.

"What do you want me to do? I refuse to just let you go! You have to pay for all those people you have killed and tortured," she said and crossed her arms.

"And I will. By killing every last one of my Death Eaters," he said matter-of-factly.

Hermione stared at him. "What?"

"They betrayed me. I'm going to kill them all," he repeated. "If you want to keep an eye on me while doing it, that's up to you."

"You can't just kill everybody all the time! It's not right!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Watch me," he said and tried to rise but found that he was still too weak. "Well, after maybe twelve hours of sleep."

Hermione nibbled her lower lip.

"By the way, why am I still dirty if I'm in a bathtub?" he asked in a puzzled voice.

"I put you there because you were throwing up a lot," she said wryly. "I didn't want it in the bed. And you aren't dirty; I used cleaning spells on you."

"You know as well as everyone that cleaning spells don't work well on the human body," he said in annoyance. "I still feel dirty."

Hermione had enough. He was sounding like a spoiled child! With one flick of her wand she made his clothes disappear, with another she turned on the sprinkles. Voldemort let out a shout when the first cold water touched him. A moment later it became warmer, but Voldemort was still staring at her with hateful eyes.

"What?" she asked smugly. "You wanted to be clean. And if you are healthy enough to complain, you can wash yourself."

Voldemort, clearly deciding not to push his luck even further, sat up straight in the bathtub and started to scrub his skin with his hands. Hermione couldn't help but to look at him. He was a bit thin for her taste, but the scars were already fading and he did have a nice body.

"Do you mind?" he asked sourly.

Hermione quickly turned around with a blush. Merlin! Was she eyeing the Dark Lord? What kind of sick person was she? She made sure her Occlumency shield was in place. It was, but because of her tiredness it wasn't very strong.

"I'm done," came his low voice three minutes later.

Hermione turned around and saw that Voldemort seemed to be near fainting again. She drained the tub with a wave of her wand and handed him a towel. When he was covered, she dried him as well and helped him into her own bedroom. With what was probably the last of her powers, she conjured up a spare bed and put him on it. He was snoring softly even before his head hit the pillow. A minute later, she was asleep as well.

xxx

This was a situation Voldemort had never expected himself to be in. He didn't know what time it was, but the sun stood high on the sky and he had just woken up inside what had once been his sworn enemies' headquarters. In the bed next to him lay a twenty year old girl who had just hours before saved his life. Oh, and he had also lost everything he had ever worked for. His Death Eaters had turned on him and he no longer had a place to stay. All his possessions were still locked away from everyone, but they were hidden in places that the Death Eaters knew about. They would most likely not let him go and get them.

All he had was Granger who seemed more than reluctant to help him with anything. Why she had saved him at all remained a mystery. Probably for both of them by the way she had acted last night.

Sweet Salazar, what would he do? If he thought it would work, he would make an alliance with Dumbledore to kill or imprison all Death Eaters. However, Dumbledore would probably imprison him as well and just force him to cooperate. Voldemort needed something that would ensure his safety and yet make him get what he wanted. If only Granger would… he didn't know what he wanted her to do. Well, right now he wanted her to wake up so she could give him some breakfast. He was still sore all over and he didn't want to risk running into anyone.

Wincing at every movement, he rose from the bed and stiffly went over to her. The leg Lucius had broken the night before was obviously still healing.

"Granger?" he asked in an as neutral voice as he could and nudged her arm.

The girl on the bed opened her eyes. At first, she just stared at him, then she reached for her wand, thankfully she seemed to remember what had happened before she hexed him.

"What?" she asked unmistakably irritated.

He sat down at the bed next to her. "Is it possible to get some food here?"

She scowled at him. "I'm not your nurse."

He arched an eyebrow. "Really? You acted like one last night."

Her scowl deepened.

"Miss?" There was a knock on the door. Granger got a panicked look in her eyes and flew up from bed. She pushed Voldemort down and pulled the cover over him. Voldemort lay still. He didn't want to be captured here more than she wanted him to be seen.

He could hear how she opened the door. "Yes, Milly?" That must be the name of the House-Elf.

"Sir Headmaster is just wondering if everything is good?" the House-Elf asked in a high squeaky voice.

"Er… yes, everything is fine here. No need to worry," Granger lied. Voldemort hoped the House-Elf couldn't hear it. "Can you make us some breakfast, please? Just place it outside the door; he is… uhm… a Muggle." The last word was spoken in a whisper, but Voldemort had excellent hearing.

"Oh, Milly see. Right away, Miss!"

The door closed and Voldemort pulled down the cover. "A Muggle?"

Hermione nibbled her lip. "What am I supposed to say? That I have the Dark Lord in my bed?" She shook her head and pulled out her wand from her sleeve. Voldemort made sure he would remember that later. She probably had some sort of sticking spell or a holster on her arm so the wand wouldn't fall off.

She transfigured his bed to a table and placed it next to her own bed. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

Voldemort just sighed and lay down on his back in her bed. Strange, he should be a lot angrier than he was. Perhaps it was all the potions he had taken last night? He didn't feel as focused as he usually was.

A few minutes later, Granger came back with three other bottles. "Drink these."

He looked at them suspiciously. "What are they?"

"These two will help you heal and this is for the pain," she explained with a tone that clearly said that she had no idea why she was doing this.

Since he didn't sense any lying he drank them quietly. They didn't taste wrong either. It seemed like Granger really did care for all unfortunate creatures. Too bad he was one of them now.

The breakfast came and they ate in silence. He could see that Granger was very uncomfortable in his presence. However, after breakfast was done, he lay down to rest and quickly fell asleep again. When he woke up later, he realised how wounded he actually was. He was seldom so exhausted that he had to sleep instead of meditate.

He looked around in the room and discovered he was alone. The table was still there and on top of it was a cane of water. Voldemort drank it and once again wondered what possessed the girl to be so thoughtful. He knew he should be grateful for it, but that had never been his strong side. Instead he started to feel slightly depressed over having to rely on the helpfulness of a girl.

His mood darkening, he rose from the bed and tried to ignore the pain in his limbs. It would probably take over a week before he was completely recovered. A pile of clothes were lying on top of a trunk and on top of the clothes was a note. He had never seen Granger's handwriting, but he was positive it was hers. _I will be back as soon as possible, the House-Elf has been told to stay away. There is a bathroom the second door to your left. Try to stay in the room and do not leave the house. I__'__ll know if you do._

Voldemort huffed. Very well, he would be a good boy and stay in the room and only leave if he needed the bathroom, which he did right now. He took the pile of clothes and left. A half an hour later he was back, showered and dressed. His leg was hurting and he knew he should rest it, but then he wouldn't be able to snoop around Granger's things and that would be a shame now when she had been so nice and not put hexes around them. Besides, did she really think he would just stay put in the bed?

Opening the trunk, he wasn't surprised to see how neatly everything was ordered inside it. She had obviously charmed it so she would be able to have all her books there. There were a lot of books. He left them for now to go through the pile of knickknacks which was placed on a shelf she had made. Some jewellery (only one was made of real gold), a small mirror, things for the hair and some make-up. Clearly Granger wasn't a shallow girl. He also found a diary, although the diary was warded and without a wand it was impossible to open it. Cursing under his breath he replaced the diary and went over to look at the books. She still had all her schoolbooks and a lot of references, and then there were also some more advanced books. Voldemort found himself falling for a very old copy called _Banshee - the Potions Experts_.

He was so deep in his reading that he almost didn't hear the door open. When he looked up, he saw Granger staring at him. She was wearing an ordinary black robe and a bag in her hand. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Reading," he answered.

"Have you been going through my things?" There was anger in her voice.

"Yes," he said truthfully.

She placed the bag on the table and went to him and snatched to book away. She placed it back in the trunk and closed and warded it. Voldemort sighed and stood from the floor.

"If you don't want people to go through your things, why didn't you do that before?" he asked and limped over to the bed.

"Because everyone else has the decency not to go through my things!" she hissed and put her wand away.

Voldemort sat down on the bed and leaned his head against the wall at the head of it. "I doubt that. You probably just never walked in on them."

She didn't answer that and he realised she suspected it as well.

"Where were you?" he demanded to know.

Granger arched an eyebrow at his tone but didn't comment it. "With Dumbledore."

Voldemort sat up straight. "Dumbledore? Whatever for?"

"What did you expect? That I keep you under my bed for the rest of your life?" she opened the bag and removed two bottles. "He isn't happy that I saved you, but at least he knows better than to hand you over to the Aurors."

He snorted. "I would never let you hand me over to anyone." Truth be told, the moment he became well enough to walk without pain, he wouldn't let her handle him in any way. But for now, he would pretend to be good.

"Drink this," she said and handed him one of the bottles.

Voldemort grabbed it and smelled it. "What is it?"

"Just potions that will make you feel better." She wouldn't meet his eyes.

He smelled it more carefully. He wasn't a Potions Master, but he was experienced enough to know this wasn't a healing potion. "Do you think I am stupid, Hermione?"

She looked awfully guilty as he gave back the potion. He suspected it was something that would make him less dangerous. Perhaps something to make it harder for him to use magic, or something that would keep him calm. Nonetheless, he was not falling for it.

"I told Dumbledore you weren't going to fall for it. He said I should force you to drink it," she muttered.

"You are welcome to try," he said with a smirk. "Although, I have to warn you that I am very capable of hurting you even without my wand."

She didn't seem scared. "I'm not going to try, don't worry. But you can drink this one; it's only a healing potion, stronger than the ones I gave you before."

He sniffed the second bottle carefully before he drank it. Yes, it was a healing potion.

"What are Dumbledore's plans for me?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"They are going to discuss it at the meeting this afternoon," Granger answered and rubbed her temples. "I'll babysit you until then."

Voldemort sank down against the pillow again with a satisfied smile. "Does that mean I should ask you to tell me stories and bring me warm milk?"

He could see how Granger forced back a laugh. "You are very strange. When I was in your custody, you acted very much like the Dark Lord. Now you are all…"

"Beaten up with a wounded pride?" he replied dryly. He decided to try to make the girl his ally in this new position. He didn't know if it would work, but it was the only thing he had at the moment. Besides, he had done worse things than "befriending" a young woman.

"Yes, but I honestly thought you would be more… cranky about it," she said slowly and looked up at him. "Although, you are probably just biding your time and working on some clever plan, aren't you?"

He just smiled. She was clever enough not to believe him if he lied. It was better to just try to act like a charming yet poor and wounded wizard. Sure, he would hate it, but he would use that hate when he killed of all the Death Eaters and then everything would be right again!


	3. The way you feel me

New chapter again! And the only thing I shall say before you begin to read is; beware of the limes!

* * *

Chapter 2 – The way you feel me

Hermione couldn't get a grip on the enigma that was Voldemort, not even with her ability to feel his emotions. They had been up in her room all day, reading, eating and (in his case) napping. Now the evening had come and Hermione was getting ready for bed. Voldemort didn't seem to want to leave her bed so she conjured up a new one for herself.

"Do you think they will try to kill me?" Voldemort asked calmly once they were both lying in their own bed.

Hermione, who was reading, lowered the book and turned her head. "No, that is more your way to handle problems."

He smiled coldly. "It's very effective."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't know what they'll do, although I doubt they will kill you."

"You don't know Dumbledore very well, do you?" he asked and turned to his side.

Hermione realised he wouldn't let her get back to the book for a while, so she marked the page and put it down on the floor. "He was my Headmaster, which is not someone you befriend."

"No, but it has given you about eight years to study how he reacts in different situations," he commented.

"Yes and I think he is quite a fair man. Besides the fact that he…" she stopped herself. It was dangerously easy to talk to Voldemort, but she couldn't. Even without his Death Eaters he was a very bad man. She just needed to constantly remind herself of it.

"Besides the fact that he… what?" Voldemort asked with a curious look on his face.

"Nothing," she said and Voldemort seemed to realise she wouldn't say anything more. In fact, she wouldn't even think about how unjust she felt Dumbledore could be sometimes.

"Dumbledore has done some nasty things too, you know," Voldemort said in a rather chirpy voice.

"As bad as you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Voldemort smiled that cold smile again. "He is twice my age and it's safe to say that I've been more effective. However, he hasn't been lazy either. Once in his youth he burned down a whole village in an experiment."

"Really?"

He nodded seriously. "Oh, yes. And he has been quite a source for inspiration in effective ways to find out people's secrets."

"How?" She wasn't sure if she believed him or not.

"I don't believe that is for a young woman's ears," he remarked sweetly and turned to his back.

Hermione desperately wanted to know what he knew, but she was also aware that he was playing her. Alas, she turned to her back as well. "Perhaps we should sleep?"

A sigh came from the other bed.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm not tired. I think I'd like to take a walk."

She sat up and stared at him. "Now?"

He sat up as well. "I could go alone."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" she scowled at him.

"No, but I feel a lot better thanks to your tender care," he said with a hint of irony. "I could use some fresh air."

Hermione sighed. "There is a small garden in the back, we can go there. I won't take you out on the street."

He shrugged and got out from bed. "Excellent!"

Hermione got up as well and put a cloak over her nightgown. Voldemort dressed fully, it made him look a bit more intimidating and Hermione guessed he wanted to feel like his old self. However, he was most likely stripped from that feeling when she helped him down the stairs because his legs were unsteady.

They came out in the garden and Hermione sat down on a bench next to the wall. The garden wasn't much, only a couple of trees planted on a small grass plot. Voldemort crossed the garden in six big steps.

"Well, this isn't much," he complained.

"I'm not taking you out to the street. You can walk around here," she said firmly.

Voldemort sighed and started to slowly walk back and forth. She could see that his leg was bothering him, but it didn't show on his face. He must have a lot of self-control, which was a bit strange considering how many people he had killed. Why did he do that, anyway?

"Because they were in my way," he answered and she realised she had forgotten to put up her shield again. What was wrong with her? Usually she wasn't this forgetful.

"You are so used to not having to protect your mind that it will take at least two months of constant practise before you manage to do it without thinking," he answered her thoughts again.

"Why two months?" she asked and focused on her shield.

"I've read that that is how long it takes to create a new habit," he said simply.

She groaned. "At least I know how it's done now."

"Yes, although if I wanted to, I would be able to break through your shield. It's weak," he replied smugly.

She stuck out her tongue.

He chuckled and came to sit next to her. "You know, if you continue to be my _babysitter_, I could teach you."

Hermione was very surprised. "You would do that? Why? Or are you just saying this so I won't turn you over to Dumbledore?"

He smiled softly. "Of course I would expect something in return. For example, you could speak in my favour when the time comes. But it would please me if you were to be my guard. I would indeed be more cooperative."

Did his voice send shivers down her spine? No, it was just the cold. Yes, it was cold outside and had nothing to do with him. "Good to know."

He smiled. Suddenly his face seemed much closer than before. His fingers came up to her face and he stroked her cheek with the lightest of touches. All air seemed to have disappeared from her lungs and taken her thoughts with it. She didn't even consider that this may not be a good idea. Instead, she closed her eyes and felt how he breathed against her mouth. Her lips were hypersensitive. She could feel his mouth come closer and didn't object when he touched her lips with his. His hand travelled down her face and to her throat which he stroked tenderly.

After what could have been seconds or minutes, Hermione realised what she was doing. She opened her eyes and withdrew from him. He didn't try to stop her. Instead he let his hand fall down to his lap.

"You shouldn't have done that," she mumbled.

He smiled at her. "No, however I liked doing that and you seemed to as well."

She blushed and looked down at her lap.

He came closer to her. "Although, I don't think your friends liked it."

She flew up from the bench and found that other people had entered the garden. Those other people were Dumbledore and Harry. Both of them seemed rather shocked, although Harry seemed angry and Dumbledore more disappointed. Hermione couldn't decide if she should try to disappear through the earth or turn around and slap Voldemort. When the disappearing didn't work, she turned around with furious eyes. He looked awfully pleased with himself.

"You knew they were coming!" she remarked in disbelief.

Voldemort giggled. "Yes, but I didn't imagine you would actually kiss me!"

"What did you imagine, Tom?" Apparently Dumbledore had found his voice. Hermione turned around again and looked at the Headmaster and her best friend, who was still standing with his mouth open.

Voldemort came to stand beside her. "I just wanted to show you how friendly Hermione and I are."

"Ah, of course." Dumbledore seemed to understand exactly what Voldemort meant, while Hermione had no idea. She glanced at him and he still looked very amused.

"What is going on?" Harry seemed to have found his voice as well. "Dumbledore told me you were guarding Voldemort but… I don't remember him looking like that."

"I do now, thanks to Hermione here," Voldemort replied. "And I'm a bit disappointed in you Dumbledore for not teaching Potter how to use his eyes."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Then why in Merlin's name were you kissing?"

"May I suggest we take this conversation inside?" Dumbledore said before any of them could answer. "I think we all could use a cup of tea."

"Spiked with Veritiserum, no doubt," Voldemort mumbled next to her as they walked inside. Hermione ignored him; she was just relieved to have a few more seconds to think about an answer to Harry. Why had they kissed? It had just happened so sudden.

They all sat down around the table. For some reason, Voldemort took the seat next to her while Dumbledore and Harry sat down on the opposite side of the table. Milly the House-Elf came in and served them all tea with her eyes at the floor. Hermione wondered if she had found out who Voldemort was or if she was just nervous being around so many wizards. When Milly escaped into the corridor, Hermione wished she could do the same. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have.

"Well?" Harry asked impatiently. "Why were you kissing him, Hermione?"

She looked down in her cup. "I don't know. It just happened."

"And how often has it 'just happened'?" Harry asked bitterly.

"Only once!" she replied agitatedly. She didn't want Harry to hate her.

"Twice," Voldemort mumbled.

"That time doesn't count," she spat. "I didn't want it."

"You didn't complain," he remarked sweetly.

"I did hit you afterwards."

"Yes, but not because I kissed you, it was because I stopped."

"No! I… just shut up!" Hermione knew he was only trying to put her in a bad light and from the look on Harry's face, he was succeeding. "It doesn't matter if we kissed or not. I don't like you at all!"

Voldemort gave her an I-don't-believe-you-look and then turned to look at the other two.

"I don't understand what's got into you, Hermione," Harry said with an uncomfortable look at Voldemort.

Hermione glanced at Voldemort too. "Bad company, I guess."

Harry still seemed angry. "Dumbledore told me you rescued him."

"Did he also tell you about the bond? I could feel them torturing him. You know I hate it when someone is hurt. I just couldn't sit there doing nothing," Hermione explained. "And then when I got him here, he was in such bad state I simply had to help him."

"Even after everything he has done? Everyone he has killed? Just last year he almost killed Ginny in that attack at Hogsmeade!" Harry seemed ready to rise in anger, but Dumbledore put a calming hand on his arm.

Voldemort seemed amused by his anger. "Yes, that. How is sweet Ginny?"

Hermione saw how Dumbledore had to press Harry down in the seat.

"Tom," he said warningly.

Voldemort ignored the Headmaster. "Is she still your girlfriend or did you break up with her again? I never really understood why you did that, because if you are afraid of her being a target, she will still be whether you're her boyfriend or not."

Harry just stared furiously at him.

Dumbledore let go of Harry and looked directly at Voldemort. "Perhaps you should consider that just one owl from me could get you executed before dawn, Tom."

"No!" Hermione gasped. When they all turned to look at her, she blushed. "I don't think execution is the answer to anything."

Voldemort placed a hand on her thigh. "Don't worry, Hermione, Dumbledore is merely trying to scare me."

Hermione brushed his hand away angrily.

"That is not entirely true, Tom. Execution will be the only alternative for you if you don't cooperate with us," Dumbledore said gravely. "As we speak, the Death Eaters are fighting over who will lead them. If they were only fighting each other, this wouldn't bother us. However, they are also recruiting new Death Eaters and the mysterious deaths in the Muggle world are increasing. The Ministry fears exposure."

Voldemort snorted. "Fools."

"I agree. We in the Order wish to, as a matter of speech, cut off the head of the snake before it gets out of hand. Will you help us, or shall I send a notice to the Aurors?"

Voldemort placed his elbows on the table and leaned his chin against the backside of his clapped hands. "You know I'm not unreasonable, Dumbledore. I'm quite certain I know which head you should be cutting, but I'm not working for free."

"You mean your pathetic life isn't worth enough?" Harry growled.

Voldemort simply smiled. Hermione looked from Voldemort to Dumbledore who seemed to be trying to read the dark wizard's thoughts.

"What did you have in mind, Tom?" Dumbledore asked after a moment.

"First, my name is Voldemort, not Tom," Voldemort said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Second, if you want me to stay put and behave, Miss Granger will be the one to guard me."

Both Harry and Hermione gasped. Dumbledore reminded cool. "Why her?"

Voldemort turned his head to look at Hermione. "Because I have the greatest confidence she will be able to tend to my every need. You wouldn't want me to escape from sheer boredom now, would you?"

Hermione stared at him with open mouth. Why did he want to be with her? Was it because the kiss? Did he think that she would… do something more? That was just so wrong! Surely Dumbledore couldn't agree to this!

"Very well. If your information is enough, I'll let Miss Granger be your only guard."

"What? No!" Harry's eyes widened as he stared at the Headmaster.

Hermione didn't think she had heard correctly. Was Dumbledore selling her for information on the Death Eaters? He must understand what Voldemort meant when he said 'care for his every need'. That would give Voldemort more power over her than she had over him!

"What is enough information?" Voldemort asked.

"Start talking and we will see," Dumbledore replied calming. He wasn't even looking at Hermione. She felt like a mule on a market.

"You can't agree to this!" Harry hissed.

Dumbledore glanced down at him. "You know that sometimes sacrifices have to be made, Harry."

"Easy for you to say when you aren't the one being sacrificed," Harry spat and stood up. With one angry look at Voldemort he left the room.

Dumbledore sighed and turned back to Voldemort. "You may begin."

Voldemort was smiling. "Very well. First you need to find the snake-heads. Lucius Malfoy will definitely be the most influential one. He will probably have Narcissa, Bella and the Lestrange brother's behind him. Many other top Death Eaters can be bought with gold and it is likely Lucius will be able to buy them. However, Antonin Dolohov never liked Lucius and unless Lucius has him killed quickly, he will be another leader. Those who don't like Lucius, gold or not, will most likely follow him. Marcus Flint is the third most dangerous one. He hasn't been a Death Eater for long and he is very popular among the newest ones. With his ambitiousness and me gone, he will not stand behind someone else, or not for long at least."

Dumbledore seemed to memorise everything Voldemort was saying. Hermione was quite sure he would put this memory into a Pensive later.

"Half of this we already knew," Dumbledore replied after a while. "We need to stop them. How do we do that?"

"You kill them of course." Voldemort seemed to think Dumbledore was stupid.

"That is not our way, which you well know, To-… Voldemort," Dumbledore said.

Voldemort smirked. "In that case, you should start with Lucius. If you take away his gold, he will fall."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Dumbledore asked.

"There are many ways, Lucius hasn't paid the right amount of taxes since he found out the Ministry cooperated with Muggles and Muggle-borns. He has earned a lot of money by selling stolen goods and importing forbidden items into the country. I could go on and on, but I think this is enough," Voldemort said cheerfully. Hermione wondered how long he had wanted to sell Lucius out.

"We know this already. We need proof of it," Dumbledore explained with an unhappy grimace.

"If you give me access to a Pensive, I'll show you where you can find what you need. However, I won't do that unless you keep your end of the bargain," Voldemort turned and gave Hermione a cold smile.

She shuddered. When she saw Dumbledore's face she knew she was sold.

xxx

Everything was turning out in Voldemort's favour and he liked that very much. He didn't mind giving them information that would put Lucius in prison for a very long time. Loyalty had only been something he used when it benefited him. Now he could start on the next part of his plan; getting Granger as an ally.

It was clear that the Order and Dumbledore underestimated the usefulness of the girl. She was clever and good with her wand. With the right guide, there would hardly be anything she couldn't do. What he needed now was her trust. If they were to be alone together, he was certain he would get it in no time. Thanks to Dumbledore, the table had turned in his favour. The Order needed him and Dumbledore had given him what he wanted, power over Granger. Since she was loyal to the Order, she would most likely do almost anything to keep him happy and helpful to help their cause.

Voldemort planned to seduce her. He had done it to countless of women before and had no doubt he would succeed. Most women became so emotional when things became intimate and Voldemort happened to be a master at manipulating emotions to his favour. It didn't matter that she was resentful now, in a couple of weeks she would most likely believe she was in love with him and women did everything for the ones they loved. He would need that if he was ever to regain the power he once had. That would happen after he killed all his former Death Eaters of course.

Granger had disappeared after Dumbledore asked her (or ordered her) to keep Voldemort 'cooperating'. They had all known she wouldn't do anything but accept. She cared too much about helping the Order.

Now it was an hour later and Voldemort was making his way back to her bedroom. Dumbledore asked him not to leave the building, but said he could move around freely inside it. He also implied that Voldemort could choose any bedroom he wanted, but he ignored that. He planned to advance on the young woman instead.

When he opened the door to the room, it was dark. He already made himself ready in the bathroom, so he just stripped down to his underwear and limped over to the bed. His leg hurt him more than he cared to admit, but he would soon get other things on his mind. The girl was lying motionless in the bed, faking sleep. Voldemort sank down next to her and made his way under the covers. Her body was hot and since she was lying with her back against his he could easily press his whole body against her.

"What are you doing?" she mumbled.

He chuckled into her ear and could feel her shudder. "You know as well as I do that you are the sacrificed lamb. And I'm a hungry wolf." He let his hand wander over the side of her body.

"Why do you want me?" she whispered.

"I think you could be very good for me," he whispered back and kissed her neck.

"Please, don't." There were tears in her voice.

His hand stopped on her thigh. "Don't what?"

"Please don't force me to have sex with you."

Truth be told, he didn't plan to have sex with her tonight. He was so tired he didn't think he could get it up even if she had been willing. However, she didn't need to know that.

"I'm not unreasonable, Hermione," he mumbled and nibbled her earlobe. "I can wait until you feel ready." He stroked the outside of her leg one last time before he let it fall over her waist instead.

She relaxed. "Thank you."

He smirked against her neck. "Sleep tight, Hermione. Tomorrow will be another long day."

"What makes you think that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Tomorrow is always a long day," he replied smoothly and pressed his lips against her neck one last time. "Sleep."

She took a deep breath, but he didn't know how long it actually took for her to fall asleep. He was asleep within moments.

When he woke up it was morning and she was trying to get up from under his arms. He didn't let her and instead pulled her down even closer against him. She let out a growl and turned around to face him. For some reason, she didn't look happy at all. He found her hand and placed it on his hips.

"My leg is cramping," he said matter-of-factly. "Would you mind massaging it?"

She frowned. "When you say 'your leg'…?"

"I actually mean my leg," he said with a smile and moved her had down his thigh. "And I didn't actually mean you had a choice."

She snorted. "I understood that, actually."

"Excellent." He turned to his side and made a gesture for her to start massaging.

Reluctantly, she sat up and moved down on the end of the bed. With a grimace on her face, she placed his leg over her knees and started to massage it.

"You can use more pressure, Granger," he said with a smirk.

Without a word she did. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her hands on him. His leg was really cramping, and the massage was helping. She was good at it. However, as she worked the upper part of his leg, he felt the urge to have her hands on another place just a couple of inches away. He opened his eyes and saw that she was well aware of his reaction. She was staring at the tent that was his underwear.

"Don't worry," he purred. "I'll take care of that myself in the shower later."

Her head snapped up and she blushed furiously. He decided now would be a good time for a hug. With one fast movement he had her underneath him. Her eyes narrowed and she tried to push him away. He ignored it and moved a hand over the inside of her thigh.

"I won't bite," he mumbled. "I just want to see if I'm having the same effect on you as you have on me." He pressed his hand against her cunt. "Oh, isn't this interesting."

Her breath hitched as he stroked her hard through her knickers. It was very arousing to watch her with her eyes shut tightly together and her mouth half open. A sweet torture. Then he realised that that wasn't all. He could feel what she was feeling. He stroked her harder and groaned over the painful pleasure. He moved the fabric aside and with his fingers searched that special little nub he knew women had. When he found it and touched it, it was like a small explosion at the back of his head. Surprising as the feeling was, he couldn't stop himself from ejaculating in his boxers.

It took a moment or two before he realised what had happened. When he did, he flew up from the bed. Granger looked up at him with a confused expression. Voldemort looked down at his hand which was covered with her fluids. How could this have happened? He was always in control over himself and now he had totally lost it by just touching her!

Gulping, he fled from the room and into the bathroom. He was scared. It wasn't the fact that he had lost control that scared him. It was the fact that he had had the best fucking orgasm in his life by doing so that scared him.


	4. A cosy enemy

So sorry, I meant to update yesterday, but I was sick and quite high on pain-killers that I completely forgot! But here you are; a long and nice chapter from me! Beware of some silly smut!

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Chapter 3 – A cosy enemy

Hermione was very surprised by Voldemort's quick departure. She had been both angry and aroused by his actions, but it was quite a spectacular orgasm. Why had he left? Lying down in bed, she mused over it. He had been scared and she didn't think he meant for it to happen. Was it something to do with their bond? When he and Bellatrix had sex, she felt it. Perhaps he now felt how much pleasure she felt? Not that she liked it. Only her body liked it, and her body was just stupid.

After an hour of musing and not getting anywhere, she felt her stomach rumble. She also needed a shower, since she was sticky between her legs. When she stepped out from her five minute shower, she wondered why she didn't feel dirty. After she had sex with Ron she ran to the bathroom to scrub herself clean and then cried for an hour. Ron had fallen asleep. Now, if she wasn't mistaken, Voldemort had been the one to run and cry in the bathroom. Or, maybe not cry, but he hadn't taken it very well. How come she had? She felt so… calm.

Taking a banana from the kitchen she went out on the backyard. When she saw him, she realised she had known he was there all the time. He was sitting on a bench with his eyes closed and a cigarette between his fingers. She frowned at that.

"Don't you know those things will kill you?" she asked.

Voldemort opened his eyes slowly. "Wizards don't get cancer, Hermione. It's a Muggle disease."

"Perhaps not, but why risk it? You are after all half blood," she remarked dryly and opened her banana to take a bite.

Voldemort chose to ignore her comment on his blood. "Don't speak ill about cigarettes. You can't imagine how much money I've made selling these."

"You have sold cigarettes?" Her eyes were wide.

"Of course! They kill Muggles like flies and they are still stupid enough to smoke them. I sleep well at night knowing that I've made it easier for millions of Muggles to meet an early death." He moved the cigarette to his mouth with a victorious smile.

Hermione didn't know if there was any use being angry. She had always thought tobacco was one of the most illogical things Muggles' used. Nuclear weapon was another. "Don't tell me you invested in nuclear weapons as well."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed. "Of course not! They kill wizards, and everything else living as well. Why would I want that? As a matter of fact, it is things like that which makes me wonder why we even allow them to exist at all! The world would be a far better place without them."

"You do realise that neither of us would have existed if it weren't for Muggles?" she asked wryly and finished her banana.

He crushed his cigarette against the bench and said nothing.

"Why did you run?" she asked after a while.

He looked up at her with a frown. "Run?"

"You know, up in my bed after… you know." She nibbled her lower lip.

He merely arched an eyebrow.

She made a grimace. "After you played with my pussy."

With a smile, he stood up. "I didn't run, I just thought my work was done." He passed her and walked back into the kitchen.

"Oh, come on." She followed him inside. "Something scared you! I could both see it and sense it."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he said calmly and started to make a sandwich for himself.

Hermione leaned against the workbench and looked closely at him. "You didn't know that would happen, did you? You said you would take care of that erection later but I know you had an orgasm at the same time I had one."

He gave her an irritated glance as he chopped up a cucumber. "It was much more fun talking to you last night when you were still scared of me."

"I wasn't…" she started to object, but then thought better of it. "Well, maybe a little, but that was mostly because I knew you would take advantage over me because of Dumbledore's promise."

He moved so he was standing directly in front of her and placed his hands over her arms. "I still will."

She looked directly into his eyes. "I know, but I saw you scared this morning. You don't understand this bond better than I do and you are more scared about me seeing into your mind than I… ah!" She hadn't realised he was still holding the knife. Now there was a fine deep cut in her upper right arm and it stung like hell.

"You better rethink that," he hissed and let go of her. He took his sandwich from the workbench and went to eat it at the kitchen table, not even giving her a second glance.

Hermione pressed her left hand over the wound and realised she was bleeding quite a bit. Determined not to let him see her cry, she pressed her lips together and walked directly to the bathroom. A few tears escape once she had closed the door, but she ignored it. Instead she used her wand to heal the cut and then washed away the blood from her arm and hand. Once done, she sank down on toilet and pressed her hands against her forehead. She had been foolish to forget that this was a man who didn't have any regrets about killing people, much less hurting them. It wasn't right, but she should know better. She had been stupid to anger him while he had a weapon in his hand.

Calming herself down and making sure the Occlumency shield was up, she left the bathroom. She needed some proper breakfast and she wanted to show Voldemort she wasn't scared. When she entered the kitchen again he had spread out a newspaper over the table which he read with interest.

"Still not scared, I take it?" he asked without looking at her.

"No," she answered shortly and went to make herself some breakfast. It seemed like in the short period of time she had been gone; Milly had cleaned the workbench and the floor from her blood.

"Do you want me to beat you?" he asked with the same tone as if he had just asked if she wanted tea.

"Can't say that I do," she replied in the same light tone.

He finally looked up at her. "I should beat some sense into you."

She looked him straight into the eyes. "And I should beat some sense into _you_."

"You can try."

"I have already beaten you," she remarked smugly.

He pressed his lips together and stared hatefully at her. She stared back.

"It won't happen again," he said after a long silence. "As soon as I'm properly healed, you and I may have to have a magicless fight."

Hermione was well aware of how stupid such a fight was, but she couldn't back down now. "Fine, let me know when you are up for it. Now if you excuse me, I'll take my breakfast in the library."

When she came to the library she sank down in her favourite armchair. It was not even noon and she was already tired and tense because of Voldemort. How on earth was she going to survive guarding him until Dumbledore had no further use for him?

xxx

The day went by slowly. Voldemort joined Granger in the library after a while and they sat reading in silence until lunch. Then Granger disappeared to the basement and told him to stay away. Voldemort very much wanted to find out what she was doing, but she warded the door from him. Instead he walked around in the house too snoop. There wasn't much to find, just old useless things the Blacks had owned. It seemed like the Order had cleared the House from anything dangerous.

Evening came and he found Granger in the kitchen again with a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other. He poured up a cup for himself and sat down at the opposite side of her. Before he had time to say anything, the sound of someone Apparating was heard from the hall. The next moment Dumbledore walked into the room.

"Good evening," he said. "Mind if I join you?"

Voldemort minded and from the look on Granger's face, she minded too but neither of them said anything and Dumbledore sat down next to her.

"Lucius Malfoy will most likely be taken into custody tomorrow," the Headmaster said in a serious tone. "Your information proved most effective."

"Of course it did, we had an agreement," Voldemort said.

Dumbledore glanced at Granger who huffed. "That we did. However, I have come to ask you to reconsider your…price. It's clear that Miss Granger isn't happy about the arrangement and almost every Order member has complained about the price being too high."

Voldemort looked at the girl who didn't seem too happy about that either. He could understand, it was obvious that Dumbledore didn't think her freedom was a big price and was only here because the rest of the Order had complaints. Potter had probably complained the most and Merlin forbids that boy didn't get something he wanted. Voldemort snorted mentally.

"I don't know about that," he said after a moment of thought. "Miss Granger seemed perfectly happy this morning. Didn't you?"

Her lips thinned. "Are you referring to when you forced yourself on me in bed or when you stabbed me at breakfast?"

"It couldn't have been too bad, you did have quite an orgasm," he said smirking.

She crossed her arms and gave him an angry glare.

Dumbledore didn't seem so happy either. "As I was saying…"

Voldemort interrupted him. "I thought my price was reasonable. I get the girl and you get information which will put an end to all Death Eater activity. Surely that goes in line with your 'for the Greater Good' agenda."

Dumbledore sighed. "Could you leave us alone for a moment, Tom?"

Voldemort crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, Voldemort but could you give us a moment alone?" Dumbledore corrected himself.

"Very well," he said and left the room, although he didn't go far. When he had been snooping, he found that there were vents which lead from the kitchen out in the hallway. If he was lucky, Dumbledore wouldn't bother to use a silencing spell over the room.

He was lucky.

"… leave me alone with him," he heard Granger say bitterly.

"I know it isn't an ideal solution Hermione, but we have been at a terrible loss this last couple of years," Dumbledore explained, he sounded very tired. "Voldemort being here without the support of his Death Eaters is a major step forward for us. I am very sorry for what he is putting you through, but if he continues to be this helpful, all Death Eaters may be taken out in a matter of months."

"Months?" Her voice was very high. "Do you expect me to be alone and under his power for months? Professor, we will kill each other! Most likely, he will kill me!"

"I don't think it will come to that, he seems awfully fond of you." Was Dumbledore judging her? Oh, this was good. Voldemort would have her over to his side in no time.

"Then his fondness will kill me in no time," she growled. "I don't know why he is acting like that."

Dumbledore sighed. "Perhaps it is the bond. You must realise that it's a weakness for him to have you knowing what he feels. Having you close and alone makes it difficult for you to reveal anything to us."

"I guess," she mumbled.

"Have you noticed anything peculiar with him?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

Voldemort froze for a moment. What if Granger told him about this morning? That wouldn't be good.

"Uhm… he smokes," she said after a moment of hesitation.

"Cigarettes? But that is a Muggle thing!" Dumbledore seemed very surprised.

"That's what I said. Apparently he has invested a lot of money so that more Muggles can die a slow death from it." Voldemort snorted at her cynical tone.

"Ah, I guess that makes sense." Dumbledore sighed. "Nothing else?"

"Not that I can think of." Voldemort could sense that she knew she was lying. That made him very hopeful for their future together.

"I see," Dumbledore said in a neutral tone. "I should be going, then. Is there anything you need? Something to keep you occupied or… certain potions?"

"We could use some more healing potions," Granger began before she interrupted herself. "But those aren't the potions you are referring too. You don't have to worry Professor. I've taken contraceptive potions since I was at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore coughed. "Well in that case I'll only send over a stack with different healing potions."

Voldemort could hear them both rise. "Good night, Hermione."

"Good night, Professor."

Voldemort waited a couple of minutes and then went back to the kitchen. Granger seemed to be sulking. She was sitting at the table with something that looked like chocolate ice-cream in front of her.

"I take it things didn't go well with the Headmaster?" he asked and sat down next to her.

"I know you were eavesdropping, so you don't have to pretend you want information out of me," she said bitterly, her brown eyes darker than usual.

"Excellent, then you can just tell me what Dumbledore's face looked like when you told him you have been taking contraceptives while still at Hogwarts," Voldemort said happily.

"He seemed a bit taken aback. I don't know why, he must know that the students have sex," she said and put a big spoon of ice-cream into her mouth. "I mean, besides Harry, I was the last in my year to have sex."

"Really? I thought boy-wonder must have all the girls he wanted," Voldemort said, intrigued.

"Oh, they did throw themselves at him, but he didn't care about them." She played with the spoon in the ice-cream.

"Because of Miss Weasley?" She had some ice-cream at the corner of her mouth, he wiped it away with his thumb and licked it off his finger.

She seemed a bit uncomfortable. "I guess. If you want some chocolate, just take a spoon of your own."

"Or we could save the poor House-Elf some dishes and share a spoon." He knew about her fight for House-Elf's rights and as he suspected she handed him the spoon.

"You don't really believe that," she mumbled.

"No, I don't. House-Elves seem to be quite happy were they are and wizards are happy having them there. I don't see why you feel bad about it," Voldemort remarked and licked the spoon. Chocolate was good, however it missed something. "Do you have any vodka?"

Granger arched her eyebrow. "Vodka?"

"It's good with ice-cream," he said cheerfully and handed her back the spoon before he rose to search the lockers. After a moment, he had found a bottle of something similar to Vodka which would probably do. He poured it into two small glasses.

She sniffed it. "Are you trying to get me drunk so I'll have sex with you?"

Voldemort laughed. "No, that would give a very poor presentation of my capacity in bed. When we have sex, I'll be completely sober."

"Good to know," she said. "Cheers."

He smiled and they swallowed the content of their glasses.

"Give me some ice-cream," he asked. She fed him and then herself.

"Oh, that is an interesting taste," she said and smacked her lips.

"I know." He poured them both a second glass.

After about two hours and four glasses later, they had managed to move into the living-room and were playing cards. Voldemort wasn't drunk, but he knew that he shouldn't drink anymore. Granger however, seemed to be very drunk and giggling a lot.

"You loose again," he said with a smirk and showed her his cards.

Granger groaned and then started to giggle. "I suck at card. Can't we play something else?"

Voldemort put the cards away. "What did you have in mind?"

"Truth or dare."

Voldemort eyed her carefully. Her face was flushed from the alcohol, her lips were redder than usual and her eyes were twinkling. He had had an erection for the latest hour.

"Fine, it's not like we have anything better to do," Voldemort said with a sigh. "Do you want to ask first?"

"Okay, truth or dare?" Granger was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

"Truth," he said.

"Will you tell the truth?" she asked, her lips pouting in the most delicious way.

"I will try," he said with a smile.

"Good. How was your first girlfriend?" she asked with her head tilted.

"I have never had a girlfriend."

"Really?"

"Yes, although some woman may claim that I was their boyfriend when I was younger. I didn't care much as long as they were good in bed," he said arrogantly.

"You have never wanted a woman for more than sex?" Granger asked in disbelief.

"I believe it's my turn," Voldemort leaned his head against the back of the armchair. "Truth or dare?"

She nibbled her lower lip thoughtfully. "Truth."

"Do you find me attractive?"

"Yes," she said, her blushing increasing. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said very satisfied with her answer.

"Have you ever wanted a woman for more than sex and if yes, who and why?" It was amazing how nosy she could be even if she was drunk.

"Yes, I have wanted a lot of women for more than sex. Bella was not only good in bed but was also a very good assassin." He knew the answer would bother her since she had felt him have sex with Bella.

"Who else?" She sounded a bit annoyed.

"Well, there was this girl in Slytherin, Sarah. Had all the great connections that I wanted and was also very good in bed," he recalled with a smirk. "Then I have also exchanged sex many times for money, food and a place to stay."

"Why not just kill them?" Granger asked confused.

"I didn't want to drive attention to myself back then. Besides sex can always be pleasurable and then you don't have to go and look for what you want, they will give it to you."

"Pig."

Voldemort snorted. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"If you had to sleep with one of the Death Eaters, who would you chose?" He hoped her answer would give him a sense of what she wanted from a man. If she chose Malfoy, he guessed she was romantic (even if Lucius was far from it) and so on.

Granger made a grimace. "Not any of them. I want someone with backbone and brains and if they have followed you, they probably don't have either."

Voldemort chuckled. "Touché."

"Truth or dare?"

"Lets try a dare," he said, interested to know what she would come up with.

"Give me and oath that you'll never hurt or kill any of my friends," she said in a suddenly very sober tone.

Voldemort was surprised. He didn't think she would be so sober. Then he realised that she had been playing him. Cleaver. Although, this was just a game. He didn't have to promise her anything, he could just leave the room and that would be the end of it. Why wasn't he leaving? Because then she would think that he planned to hurt her friends and that would destroy what little trust she had in him and it would be so hard to build it back. In the end, he wanted her as an ally more than he wanted to hurt her friends. After all, they were helping him right now.

"I can give you an oath not to kill or physically hurt your friends for any reason except self-defence," he finally said.

"That's okay." He could see how relieved she was when she got her wand and sealed his oath.

They sat there in silence for a while.

"I believe it's my turn," he said. "Truth of dare?"

She looked up at him with surprise. Apparently she had forgotten about the game. "Oh, dare, I think."

He smiled. "Take off your clothes."

xxx

For a moment Hermione was sure she had misheard, but then he leaned back in the chair with his hands behind his head and she knew he was serious. Since she wasn't as drunk as she had pretended when she made him play truth and dare with her, she was still reasonable enough to see that this could get dangerous. However, she drank enough not to be shy. Alas, she decided that she could let him see some flesh, if only to see his reaction.

She had been dressed in blue jeans, brown t-shirt and a green cardigan. Now she slowly removed first her cardigan then her t-shirt. Voldemort's eyes fell to her blue bra and then down over her flat stomach. Hermione had always loved her stomach. She didn't have a very marked waist, but her stomach was flat and smooth and her breast big enough for a European B-cup. Voldemort seemed to appreciate what he saw and it encouraged her to remove her jeans and socks as well, only leaving her white hipsters on. Her hips weren't big and her legs long and slender, they were still a little tanned since the summer and besides a couple of bruises she wasn't sure when she had got, they were spotless as well.

"Very nice," Voldemort mumbled. "Now come here so you don't get cold."

Hermione snorted, but if she had to be honest, alcohol always made her want to get cosy with someone and Voldemort's lap looked very inviting. Besides, he had said they wouldn't have sex tonight.

When she came close, he pulled her down on his lap. She couldn't stop a shiver to escape when he moved his hands over her naked flesh. After a moment of getting comfortable, he placed his right arm around her so his hand was under her right breast and let his left hand draw small circles over the outside of her thigh.

"I believe it's your turn," he whispered.

"Right," the tension between them was so great that she couldn't stand looking him into the eyes. Instead, she leaned her head against his shoulder. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said, a smile in his voice.

"Why do you want to have sex with me?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.

"You mean beside from the fact that you are very beautiful and clever?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "I never feel anything when I have sex, but with you and the bond… I think I'll be able to feel something. I think it will be very special."

She was silent for a while and then she pinched his arm. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"Ouch, fine, I only said that because I thought it was what you wanted to hear, don't pinch me!" He gave her a soft smack on her thigh.

"Tell me the truth," she asked with a smile.

"Fine, besides the fact that you are very beautiful, I want to have you on my side in case Dumbledore decides to dispose me. I know my chances to survive are very slim once all Death Eaters are gone but with you on my side, I at least stand a chance."

Hermione wasn't sure if she should be angry or not. After a couple of minutes, her reasonable side told her that if she were Voldemort, she would probably do the exact same thing. Everyone had a survival instinct and truth be told, she was the only one who would even consider helping him.

"If you want me to help you, you have a great deal of sucking up to do," she huffed.

"I'm planning to. But let's not forget that you still have to keep me happy on behalf of the Order," he purred and his left hand wandered over her hip and then down again.

Hermione let out pleasant groan.

"Truth or dare?" he asked in a low voice.

"Dare."

"Kiss me."

That she didn't mind at all. She tilted her head upwards and he captured her lips. It was slow and gentle at first, she licked his lower lip before she began to suck it. He tasted of ice-cream and the alcohol they had both consumed. She moved to get better access and before she knew it, she was straddling him and their kiss became more passionate. He moved his hands over her back and managed to unhook the bra. She wriggled out of it and threw it on the floor. His hands found her breasts and he started to massage them as she bit his lip. The ache in her lower regions increased and she started to rock her hips back and forth in his lap. Voldemort let out a groan and one of his hands went from her breast to her arse so he could press her down against his rock hard member. Hermione didn't mind rubbing herself against it. Sparks came from the back of her mind and now it was his turn to bit down in her lips. His second hand came down to her arse and he massaged both of her cheeks hard.

Hermione let out a muffled cry when her orgasm suddenly came. It wasn't a very big one, but it left her feeling all warm and sleepy. Voldemort let go of her mouth and when she opened her eyes she saw him looking more happy and at peace than she had ever seen anyone before. It hit her how perfect he looked.

"Wow," she yawned.

He opened his eyes slowly and smirked. "I'm good, aren't I?"

Hermione smiled and fell asleep before she managed to answer him.


	5. Voldemort is one sneaky snake

Hello! New chapter again! But tomorrow I'll go to England with my family and won't be back until the 28th. I don't think I'll have access to the internet while I'm away, so don't be alarmed if I take some time to answer your reviews. I'll update as soon as I get back!

* * *

Chapter 4 – Voldemort is one sneaky snake

When Hermione woke up, she had a splitting headache and a deep craving for coffee. This was the reason why she didn't drink so often. No matter how little she drank, she always became hung-over. She turned her head to the right and saw that it was only seven o'clock. When did she fall asleep last night? It couldn't have been that late. Wait, didn't she fall asleep downstairs? She turned to her left and saw Voldemort lying on his stomach next to her, deep asleep. Had he carried her to bed? He must have. She remembered falling asleep in his lap after… she blushed. What had come over her last night? Was she so desperate for some sexual contact that anyone would do? Sure, Voldemort was handsome enough to look at but… he was evil! Although, he did give her an oath not to kill or physically hurt her friends and that had to count for something.

Groaning, both over her headache and her confused thoughts, she rolled out of bed and pulled a housecoat over her underwear. Voldemort stirred, but she quickly left the room before he had time to wake. She didn't want to have a confrontation with him before she got some coffee.

She was halfway through her second cup when someone Apparated into the hallway. Hermione groaned, thinking it was Dumbledore, but was a moment later surprised to see Ginny Weasley standing in the doorway. The younger woman looked around nervously and Hermione realised Ginny knew about Voldemort being here. She wondered how much courage it must have taken for her to come here. Ginny feared Voldemort more than anyone Hermione knew, most likely because what his younger self had done to her when she was only eleven years old.

"Ginny," Hermione said with a smile and stood up to hug her friend. "I'm so glad to see you."

Ginny smiled shyly and hugged her back. "Harry told me about… everything. I thought I could come by and see how you were doing. Mum made muffins, though some of them are a little burned. She has been very angry since she found out that Dumbledore made you the sole guardian only because You-Know-Who wanted it."

They sat down at the table and Hermione took one of the lemon muffins.

"Is that all you're having for breakfast?" Ginny asked and frowned at Hermione's coffee cup.

"Well, now I have this as well." Her headache was better, but she knew it would take the whole day before it was completely over. At least she could function socially now.

"But you always eat so much for breakfast," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Well, except when… oh, Merlin's dirty underwear, you have a hangover!"

Hermione made a grimace at her friend's high voice. "Maybe a small one."

Ginny stared at her in disbelief. "You got drunk together with… him?"

"No! Or, well, we took a few glasses last night, but it wasn't like I would let him run away. You know I get a hangover even if I just have had two glasses of wine for dinner," Hermione said, once again embarrassed over her actions. Not that Ginny would ever find out what she and Voldemort had really been doing.

Ginny sighed. "Okay, well, I won't blame you. I'd probably drink myself stupid if I had to be alone with him all the time."

Hermione gave her a weak smile. "Do you want some coffee?"

"No thanks, I have to get to work soon. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't torturing you or something," Ginny said, not really able to making it sound like a joke.

"He isn't," Hermione reassured her. "He is really annoying, but I try not to talk to him too much."

Ginny rose from the table, obviously very relieved. "That's good. Well, I better be going. It doesn't matter that Bill is my boss, he will still take it off my pay check if I'm late."

Hermione stood as well and hugged her friend. "Tell him I said hi."

Ginny nodded and was just about to step out in the hallway when she smacked right into a half naked Voldemort, his hair was a mess and he wore a pair of boxers under an open housecoat. Hermione's eyes widened, but Voldemort just gripped the red-haired woman's shoulder to make sure she didn't fall, then he moved her aside and went straight to the coffee pot. Ginny, however, had frozen. Hermione decided that it was best to get her friend into another room before she came out from her shook. It wouldn't be good if Ginny started hexing Voldemort.

When they were out in the hallway, Ginny looked up at Hermione. "Why does he smell like you?"

Hermione blinked. "What?"

Ginny's eyes narrowed. "He smelled exactly like you, why?"

"I don't know, maybe he uses my shampoo?" Hermione said lamely.

Ginny gasped and looked at Hermione in disbelief, then she shook her head and looked down. "I think I better be going."

"Ginny, wait," Hermione said when her friend turned around. "It's not what you think!"

"It never is," Ginny mumbled and then she was gone.

Hermione groaned and kicked the wall. Ginny didn't even let her explain! Of course Ginny would think the worst. She if anyone knew how luring Voldemort could be. Hermione had to explain what was going on… but what could she say? That yes, she was sleeping in the same bed as Voldemort and now and then snogging him, but that was all on Dumbledore's orders? No, that sounded wrong as well.

Feeling miserable, she went into the kitchen again. Voldemort was standing with his back against her, fixing something on the counter. Hermione sat down and stared sadly at the muffin basket.

"That was Miss Weasley, right?" he asked and came to the table caring a plate with sandwiches.

Hermione nodded.

"She was terrified," he noted.

Hermione nodded again.

"Oh, well." He began to eat.

She sighed at his indifference, but couldn't really blame him. He made a living out of terrifying people; one girl more or less didn't make any difference. At least he couldn't harm her without being attacked first.

"Why don't you use a hangover-potion?" Voldemort asked after a while.

She shrugged. "Coffee is just as helpful, and more tasteful."

"I will remember that the next time I decide to drink you under the table," Voldemort said with a chuckle.

Hermione pulled out her tongue at him in a very childish way. He just smirked.

xxx

The day went by and when night came, Hermione was a little worried about what Voldemort would do, but he simply rolled to his back and fell asleep. It took some time before Hermione managed to do the same, but she must have because when she opened her eyes again it was morning and Voldemort was gone. It was a relief he wasn't there. She knew she had dreamt something about him, something erotic. She couldn't remember any details, just the feeling of his hand over her body and how her skin tingled.

She showered and went down to breakfast. Voldemort was already sitting there with a cup of coffee, a half eaten sandwich with eggs and the newspaper. Hermione poured a cup of coffee for herself and sat down opposite him.

"Can I have the newspaper?" she asked.

"I'm reading," he said without looking at her.

"Can't I have the pages you have already read?" she wondered, slightly annoyed.

Voldemort sighed and handed some of the pages to her. They read in silence. After a while the silence began to bother Hermione. She didn't know why, it just did. Wasn't he going to ask her how she slept? How she was feeling this morning? Those were standard questions when you were living together. It wasn't like it was much either. It took five seconds. Just to show the person that you cared. Although, Voldemort didn't care how she felt, did he? Nope, because he was the evil Dark Lord who was just a prisoner here.

However, that didn't stop her from asking those trivial questions. Not that she cared about how he had slept of how he was feeling. Or did she? Maybe it wasn't about caring as it was a way to show the other person that they existed, a way to show them respect.

"I think I'll start to teach you Occlumency today," Voldemort suddenly said.

Hermione looked up, startled. "Oh? Why?"

He folded the newspaper and looked at her. "Because then I can put less energy on blocking your thoughts out and more energy on getting better."

"Were you spying on my thoughts again?" she exclaimed.

Voldemort sighed. "Not intentionally. It just seems like the closer you are to me, the stronger I hear your thoughts. I don't even have to concentrate to hear what you think now, instead, I have to concentrate not to hear."

That didn't sound good. "How come I can't hear your thoughts?"

"Because I have no problem blocking mine," he said simply.

Hermione sighed. "Fine. How were you planning on teaching me without a wand?"

"I have never needed a wand to break into people's minds. Put up your shield now and I'll make an attempt to break it sometime today," Voldemort said and stood.

Hermione gaped. "Just like that? I'll put my shield up and I won't know when you try to break it?"

"Of course. Do you really think those who try to break into your mind will warn you?" Voldemort chuckled.

Hermione made a grimace. "I see your point."

"Excellent! Now I think I'll find something good to read." He disappeared from the room.

Hermione shook her head and made sure her shield was up while she continued with breakfast.

As the day went by, she found herself getting more and more on edge. Every time she saw Voldemort, she checked her shield and it was tiring her. When Milly came with afternoon tea in the library, Hermione watched Voldemort nervously. She knew he would try something soon. He had been ignoring her all day, but now he glanced at her over the book he was reading. Hermione tried not to show her unease as she ate.

Suddenly he rose. Hermione strengthened her shield and watched him suspiciously. He gave her a teasing smile and went past her. When she heard the bathroom door open she let out a breath. When was he going to try to break through her shield? She took a bite from her scone and leaned back in the armchair.

Without a warning, he was there. Hermione let out a cry when he tore her shield apart like it was a piece of paper. He was deeper inside her mind than she had ever felt him before, finding memories she had wanted to forget. Like the time she ran away from home and her mother had slapped her for worrying them so much. Now Hermione knew that her mother just hit her because she had been so scared and angry, but it still hurt! Then there was the time in France when some boys had tried to make her give them a blow job. She had been so scared and used magic against them. The rest of the summer she had worried she would be expelled, but nothing happened.

Other memories flew by, the time she had lied to her mother about forgetting the time in the library when she really was at a party. When she had spread evil gossip about Lavender Brown because Lavender had been mean to her in their first year at Hogwarts. Now Hermione felt really guilty about it!

Then a new memory came. The first time she and Ron was going to have sex and she felt so ugly and his penis had been so disgusting and… she could feel Voldemort chuckle. He wasn't supposed to see this!

"_Expelliarmus!_" she cried, somehow managing to grab her wand.

New memories flashed by, but these ones weren't hers. She saw a young boy sitting alone next to a window, angrily brushing some tears away. Now the young boy was outside. Two pairs of stronger arms held him as another boy was taunting him. In his hand was an ordinary garden snake.

"_This your friend, Tom?" _Then he dropped the snake on the ground and stepped on it. _"We don't like weirdoes here, weirdo."  
_

A new memory, a man was standing over Tom with a cane that came down on his back. _"You are a very bad boy, Riddle."_ Tom flinched in pain.

"No!"

Hermione found herself back in the armchair with the grown Tom over her. He did look a lot like his younger self, how peculiar. Tom slapped her and she found herself thinking more clearly. This wasn't Tom, this was Voldemort. Who, as it turned out, also had been bullied when he was young. Hermione felt sorry for him.

Voldemort's angry eyes narrowed. He looked like he was about to say something, but then shook his head and left the room, still furious. Hermione looked after him. What had just happened? It was clear that he was very private about his past, but still.

The afternoon turned into evening which turned into night. Voldemort stayed away from her and when she finally went to bed he was already there, faking sleep. Hermione sighed and crawled down behind him. He had his back turned against her and for some reason it bothered her.

"Look," she said carefully and placed a hand on his back. He tensed. "You saw things about me I have never told anyone about. I won't tell anyone about your memories."

Voldemort was quiet and Hermione sighed and removed her hand from his back.

"Do you pity me?" he finally asked.

Hermione opened her mouth, but then closed it again. What was she supposed to say?

He turned around. "It's unnecessary. The boy you saw killing that snake died some twenty years ago. He spent his last thirty years in a mental hospital after I was done with him. The man who caned me took his own life, apparently he was seeing ghosts." Voldemort smiled evilly. "Besides, they didn't hurt me because I was sitting innocently at the dinner table."

Hermione sighed. "I never thought you did. You have always been a bastard."

"Is that what you think?" he purred and sneaked his hand up on her stomach and in under her sleeping t-shirt.

She felt her heart speed up.

"Don't you get hot sleeping in clothes?" he whispered.

Truth be told, she did, but wouldn't that make it too easy for him?

"Just take them off," he mumbled. "I have seen you in less."

Well, that was true. Besides, if he was going to fuck her, clothes would be the least of his problems. With a sigh she sat up and removed her t-shirt and pyjamas shorts. The only thing she kept was her knickers and he didn't comment on that. When she lay down again, he stroked her stomach again.

"Much better," he mumbled and his hand came to rest right under her left breast. He fell asleep like that and surprisingly, it didn't take Hermione so long to fall asleep either.

xxx

A week went by and Voldemort continued to be as intimate as he could with the girl without actually fucking her. He wanted her to come to him. Every night he let her feel his naked body next to her and he knew she dreamt about them having sex. During the day he would touch her innocently, a hand on the back, a stroke over the thigh and cheek and so on. He never did more than that, but the sexual tension was still thick as syrup.

He was still teaching her to block her mind and thankfully it was working. He had become quite tired of always hearing her thoughts in the background of his own head. However, as the days went by, he became stronger as well and it was easier to block her out. Now a day, he had no problem doing wandless magic.

However, it seemed like all his carefully thought out plans were about to crash.

"We had an agreement!" Voldemort roared. "If you take her away from me…"

"You won't be able to do anything," Dumbledore said with a blank expression. After a week with no interruptions from the Order, Dumbledore had decided to come back and put a stop to all Voldemort's fun. "Malfoy has proven to be just as useful as you and much less dangerous. He doesn't ask for so much either, just a clean cell and good food."

"Lucius doesn't know half the things I know!" Voldemort growled and slammed his hands on the table in front of Dumbledore.

"Prove it," Dumbledore said calmly. "Give me something that you are certain Lucius doesn't know and I may reconsider."

Voldemort glared at the older man. Was he playing him? It had always been hard to tell if Dumbledore was lying or not. If he wasn't lying, it would only take a snap of Dumbledore's fingers to have Voldemort imprisoned in a far less comfortable cell without Hermione. Yes, it had gone so far that he didn't think about her as Granger anymore. Only a couple more days and the sexual tension would be so strong that she would try to lure him into bed. Now Dumbledore was about to ruin it all just because they had captured Lucius.

"Give me a day," he said in a low voice. "Then I will have a plan ready for you that will bring down both Marcus and Antonin. They will be suspicious now that Lucius has been captured, and you need to act quickly. Fast planning is something I know Lucius can't do."

Dumbledore stood. "I'm glad you see reason Voldemort. I'll be here tomorrow at dinner."

Voldemort huffed and the Headmaster left the room. Not a minute later, Hermione entered the room with a worried look on her face. "What happened?"

Voldemort huffed again, turned around and went out to the garden. He needed a new plan, and quickly. If he actually made a plan to stop all Death Eater activity, the Order would kill him. If he didn't, the Order would lock him away in some far away cell where he would have little means to escape. With a groan, he sat down on the bench and lit a cigarette. Hermione came out with her arms crossed.

"What happened?" she asked again, firmer this time.

"Dumbledore doesn't think he needs me anymore," Voldemort spat. "He thinks he can bring down the Death Eaters without my help."

Hermione frowned. "How come?"

"They captured Lucius." Voldemort inhaled the nicotine from the cigarette and blew out the smoke.

Hermione sighed. "And Lucius is easier to work with."

"Apparently he doesn't ask for as much as I do in return for information," Voldemort muttered.

"Oh, so it's about me again?" She seemed a bit disturbed. He knew she had started to enjoy spending time with him and felt guilty for it.

Voldemort looked at her as he brought the cigarette to his lips again. It was a shame, but he had to leave her. He would never stand to have Dumbledore locking him away and it was too early to make Hermione come with him. Alas, he had to trick her somehow. It would also be good if he could get a hold on her wand. How would he do that? It would be preferable if he managed not to break all her trust in him.

"No, I think it's about me. Dumbledore doesn't like me," he said with a cynical smile. "Can't say I like him either."

"Neither do I," Hermione snorted.

Voldemort slowly looked at her from head to toe. The easiest thing would be to kill her, but he didn't want that. She had a too promising future to be killed just because he needed a wand. Neither did he want to try and tie her up again. Even if she couldn't break free, she could call for the House-Elf before he had the time to disappear. Then there was only one thing left to do.

With determined steps, he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her. He was very surprised when she pushed him away.

"What?" he asked annoyed. He knew she wanted him.

She made a grimace. "Well, first, brush your teeth! Second, where did that come from? You are usually more seducing than that."

Voldemort sighed. "Very well, I'll brush my teeth. But we don't have much time left together and…" he trailed off with another sigh.

"When you put it that way… I feel like a cheap whore," Hermione retorted and crossed her arms. "I won't sleep with you just because the chance is high that you will be locked away tomorrow."

Voldemort crossed his arms as well. "Fine, then I won't help Dumbledore at all."

"But you have to if you want to be with me," she remarked.

"And you are making it quite clear that you don't want to be with me and I'm quite sure I've told you I don't enjoy raping women," he said matter-of-factly.

"Merlin! You are unbelievable," she exclaimed and turned to walk into the house again.

Voldemort followed her, but stopped at the bathroom to brush his teeth. Two minutes later he knocked on the door to their room.

"Go away," came her muffled voice from inside.

He had no intension to do that, so he opened the door and stepped inside. She was lying on her back on the bed and a pillow pressed over her face. Voldemort rolled his eyes at her childish behaviour and went to sit on the bed next to her. When he removed the pillow, she turned her head away from him.

"I don't want to have sex with you," she mumbled.

"Yes you do," he said softly.

She pressed her lips together. "I don't_ want_ to want to have sex with you."

He sighed. "The Order already believes we are having sex."

"I know," she whispered and turned her head back to him. "But at least now I can tell them that I hated it."

He arched his eyebrows. "You are afraid that you will like it?"

She sighed. "I'm sure I will like it."

Voldemort sighed and changed his plan. "I'm going to kiss you now."

She just closed her eyes and didn't put up any resistance when he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. He could feel her giving in and he changed his position so he was half-lying on top of her. His hand found its way under the shirt she was wearing and he regretted not having the time to taste all of it. Her hand came shyly up to his head and stroked his neck. He nibbled her lower lip as he changed position again so he was lying fully on top of her. Hermione let out a quiet moan when his hand stroked the outside of her breast and went up to her neck. He was starting to regret his change of plan, but if he would have any chance getting her back after this, it would only be worse if he actually did fuck her.

He moved his lips over her cheek and started to nibble her earlobe as his hand went up to her exposed neck. His index finger found that spot on her neck which would make her unconscious if he put pressure on it.

"Trust me, Hermione," he whispered into her ear. "I'm really sorry about this."

She didn't seem to understand what was happing, but he felt how she started to panic when she realised she couldn't breath. A moment later she was unconscious and Voldemort sat up slowly. He found her wand strapped to a holster on her left arm. With it, he stunned her so she wouldn't wake up anytime soon. He sighed as he rose. Everything would have been so much easier if she could just leave the Order for him. Although, he knew she was still too loyal to them to do that. He would just have to delay his plans for her and take care of the more pressing matters first. Like getting away from this house before Dumbledore realised he wasn't going to help them.


	6. When everything falls apart

Okay, so now this chapter has been looked through twice. Thanks for your help Ankoku Dezaia and MrsMalfoy288!

Okay, end of rambling, on with story!

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Chapter 5 – When everything falls apart, where do you go?

"Hermione? Hermione!"

Someone was shaking her out of her unconsciousness, but Hermione didn't want to wake up. She felt all dizzy and sick.

"Hermione, you have to wake up and tell us what happened!" That sounded like Remus, her old teacher. It would be awfully rude of her not to answer a question asked by a teacher.

Slowly she opened her eyes and found herself staring at the ceiling of her room. What had happened? Voldemort had been here. They had kissed and… and… then everything had turned black. Her hand flew to her left arm where she hid her wand. It was gone.

Her eyes flew around the room before it stopped on Remus who was looking at her with worried eyes.

"Where is he?" she growled.

Remus closed his eyes for a second and sighed. "You don't know either?"

"Would I be laying here unconscious if he had told me?" she asked, getting angrier by the second. How could he do this? Just pretend they were going to have sex and then knock her out! How stupid she was for falling for it.

"Can you sense him with the bond of yours?" Remus asked.

Hermione closed her eyes and went to the back of her mind. There was something there, but very vague. Had he found a way to block her out completely? "I can barely sense him. I don't know if I'll be able to locate him. Maybe when he gets tired." She would locate him. She would locate him and when she did, she would go there and give him a piece of her mind. How dare he use her like that?

"I need to tell Dumbledore about this. Are you okay?" Remus asked and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Of course I'm not okay, Voldemort tricked me!" Hermione growled and stood up. She needed coffee. Then, she was going to find Voldemort and beat every inch of his life.

Unfortunately, when Lord Voldemort didn't want to be found, it appeared to be quite difficult to find him. Hermione tried to Apparate to him, but since she couldn't sense him so well, she ended up at the strangest location; an attic, in the sewers and in an empty men's room at a bar. If Voldemort was somewhere nearby, he hid very well and the next time she tried to sense him, he was somewhere else.

She searched all night and when morning came, she gave up and returned to Grimmauld Place. Sooner or later, something would happen that would make her feel him more strongly. She would wait until that happened.

No one was at the house when she returned so she took a long shower to ease her tension. She felt confused, angry and guilty. During the night, she remembered the words he had whispered just before he knocked her out; _I'm sorry_. Why did he say that? And why did it make her feel a little better about herself? Oh, well, she knew that if he said he was sorry, at least it wasn't her he found unappealing but that didn't make her guilt any better. She was supposed to guard Voldemort, and yes, Dumbledore said that she had to keep him happy, but that didn't mean she should lower her guard! However, what did Dumbledore think would happen? She was only human, and a heterosexual woman. Being locked inside a house with a handsome and charming psychopath wasn't like guarding a dog. Dumbledore must have known he would get under her skin!

When Hermione stepped out from the shower, she started to build up anger against Dumbledore. This was really all his fault. He was the one who insisted she would guard Voldemort. He was the one who had given Voldemort a day to work out a plan to wipe out all the Death Eaters and thereby end his own efficiently. Now when she thought about it, it was obvious why Voldemort escaped. Of course he would not just sit around and wait for Dumbledore to be done with him.

Hermione dressed and went down to the kitchen to find more coffee. She was tired after being up all night, but knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. When she saw Dumbledore, Harry and Remus sitting at the table, she stopped in the doorway.

"Ah, Hermione," Dumbledore said. "Would you care to join us for some breakfast?"

Slowly, she went over to the table and sat down and Milly came in with a cup of coffee.

"Any news?" Dumbledore asked after she had taken a sip.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"Oh, well, he is due to surface sometime. We will just wait until the right moment." Dumbledore sounded awfully cheerful for someone who had just lost his biggest prisoner. It was almost as if he… it hit Hermione like a flash of lighting.

"You knew he would escape!" she gasped, hitting herself for not seeing it before. Of course Dumbledore wasn't stupid enough to think that Voldemort would be a good boy and just do what he was asked. "Why on earth did you let him escape?"

Harry and Remus squirmed in their seats and Hermione realised they had known what was going to happen. That made her feel betrayed, even if she logically knew that no one could give her any information because of her bond to Voldemort.

"You have to understand, Hermione," Remus said with an uncomfortable look on his face. "At the moment both we and Voldemort have the same mission; to stop all the Death Eaters. However, we are tied to the law and before all the paperwork is done, half of them will have left the country. Voldemort is more… effective."

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Yes, and he may as well kill the whole family while he is at it!"

Now it was Dumbledore who answered. "Not necessarily. He will have to act quickly if he wants to… er… punish them all. Besides, the more who die; the greater chance that the rest of the Death Eaters will hear about it and flee."

Hermione shock her head in disbelief. "And then what? You will just sit by and let him build a new army?"

"I thought you liked him," Harry mumbled and looked down in his cup.

"I don't like him," she snapped at her friend. "I know what he is capable of doing." Even though she did forget it most of the time when she was around him.

"We are aware of that, Hermione," Dumbledore said calmly. "And as I said, sooner or later he will resurface and when he does, you can tell us were he is and then we will bring him in."

"So I'm just a pawn in your twisted game, then?" She was too angry to stop herself from saying exactly what she thought. "You wanted me to be alone with him here so I'd get to know him better and strengthen the bond between us, didn't you? Do you get off on using us like dolls in-"

"That's enough, Miss Granger," Dumbledore interrupted her sternly. "If you haven't noticed, we are at war."

Hermione flew up, furious. "I have noticed. I just never saw that I was fighting for the devil." She walked up to her own room and brushed away some tears of anger. This day just kept getting worse. She had always known that Dumbledore was using them for the best of the Order, it just never occurred to her how coldly he did it. His ways reminded her of Voldemort.

She didn't realise she was being followed until someone put a hand on her shoulder. She flew up and saw Harry standing behind her. He seemed worried and a little scared.

"I just… you seemed like you needed someone to talk too," he said in a low voice.

Hermione looked at her friend, really looked at him. He sounded so understanding and mature and she realised that he was a man now, a young man. Even if he looked the same as he always had, his eyes held a wisdom she never noticed before. It made her calm down somewhat. She knew Harry was ready to listen to her.

So she spilled it all out. How she and Voldemort almost had sex and how he had flirted. How used she felt now and how angry she was. It came so easily and Hermione realised how much she had missed talking to someone for these past weeks when she first had been alone and then with Voldemort. Somewhere during the talk, she began to cry. When she was done, Harry was holding her closely and comforted her.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked.

Hermione sighed and wiped her tears away. "I don't know."

They were quiet.

"I think I want to go to my parents for a while," she finally said. "Just… get away from everything."

"Yeah, that sounds reasonable," Harry mumbled. "You could probably use a break to… figure out things."

Hermione knew he meant that she should figure out what an evil bastard Voldemort really was and stop thinking about fucking him. She smiled a little. Merlin, she really needed to get away from this before it made her insane.

xxx

"Miss Granger didn't take it as well as you hoped?" Severus asked with a smug face.

Dumbledore scowled at his colleague where they sat in the Potions Master's quarters. "Voldemort seems to have more influence on her than I anticipated. She says she needs a break from everything."

"Ah, which means you won't be able to monitor her for any signs of the Dark Lord," Severus remarked and poured up another glass of brandy to himself. It was one of his cheaper kinds. Since he wasn't a double spy anymore he hardly ever felt the need to comfort-drink.

"I'm afraid Voldemort will try to contact her again if she is alone," Dumbledore confessed and leaned forward in the armchair.

"Where had she planned to retreat?"

"Her parents."

Severus sighed. "She will have no protection there at all. Haven't you told her how many Death Eaters wish to kill her because they think she has kidnapped the Dark Lord?"

"No, not yet. When I saw her yesterday she didn't seem willing to listen to anything I had to say," the Headmaster said with a grim face.

Severus looked at the older man, wondering what he was planning. "When will you tell her?"

"I had hoped you would be willing to do that, and put up the wards that you find necessary to protect the family." Severus knew his boss well enough to know that it wasn't a question, it was an order.

"I will leave tonight, then," he said. "But I don't think Miss Granger will be happy to see me."

"No, but I know you will do what it takes anyway," Dumbledore said firmly.

The Potions Master sighed. Yes, he always seemed to do whatever it took, but that didn't mean he liked it.

xxx

When Hermione arrived at her parents' house she wasn't sure how she was going to act. Both her parents noticed immediately that something had happened, but since she never actually told them how deeply involved she was in the war, she ended up telling them she had had a fight with her boyfriend and just wanted to get away from everything for a while. Her parents believed her, even if her father, Hugo, seemed a little uncomfortable about finding out she had a boyfriend.

She spent the first day walking around in the house to see what had changed. She hadn't been here in over three months and her mother, Rose, had finally come around to redecorating their old funky basement. Since her father loved books as much as she did, Hermione was pleased to find a lot of bookshelves down there. Her mother had made it very cosy with a big blue sofa on the wooden floor and a big dark brown table with a jar of candy on top of it. Despite being a dentist, Hugo had a major sweet tooth. But as he said, since he brushed and flossed regularly, it wasn't the condition of his teeth he needed to worry about, but the size of his waist. Then he would laugh and take another piece of candy.

In the evening, Hermione helped her father get dinner ready and they were just about to sit down to eat when a knock was heard at the front door.

Hugo sighed. "It's probably Mrs Wonkers who lost her cat again." Hugo was a very helpful soul even if he did look a bit intimidating. He was very tall, over six foot five with a wide chest and a little too much of a stomach. His short hair was just as curly and wild as Hermione's but his friendly green eyes could calm down most people. Hugo left the table and a moment later, he called Hermione's name.

Hermione grew cold for a moment. If it was for her, it meant it was someone from the wizarding world. But she made it perfectly clear to the Order that she wanted to be left alone. Had something happened? Or could it be…

She didn't even have time to think his name before she reached the door and discovered Professor Snape standing there. Somehow, she felt disappointed.

"Expecting someone else, Miss Granger?" Snape asked, clearly seeing her disappointment.

"No," she repeated dryly. "What are you doing here?"

Hugo, who was still standing next to the door, cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry, dad, this is one of my former Professors, Severus Snape," Hermione introduced as pleasantly as she could. "Professor, this is my father, Hugo Granger."

Snape nodded. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but I could use a word, Miss Granger."

"Actually, we were just starting dinner," Hermione said. She didn't want to talk to Snape or anyone really, right now.

"It will only take a minute," Snape said slowly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Hugo placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and pushed her forward a little. "I'm sure we can keep your dinner hot for a minute, Hermione. Please, come in."

Hugo made sure Snape closed the door behind him and then left them alone in the hallway. Hermione looked tiredly at her old Professor. "If Dumbledore wants me to come back, you can tell that old…"

Snape held up his hand. "Whatever flattery you are about to say, the Headmaster has no intension of forcing you back. He merely wants to ensure your safety while you are staying here."

Hermione held out her chin. "Voldemort won't harm me."

"No, we don't think he will. However, there are still Death Eaters who believe you have kidnapped the Dark Lord and seek revenge for it," Snape said quickly and took out a wand from inside his robe. "And if I'm informed correctly, you don't even have a wand."

"I planned to get a new one in Diagon Alley tomorrow," she muttered. "And this house already has protections."

"We live in dangerous times, Miss Grangers," Snape said and handed her the wand. "Take this for now. I'll upgrade the protection on your house and then I advise you to check them every night."

"Very well," Hermione said and felt the wand in his hands. It felt… good. Almost like hers, only a little… rougher somehow. "Did Dumbledore buy this for me?"

"No, I… confiscated it some time ago," Snape said, a smirk creeping up over his lips.

"Where?"

"At Malfoy mansion. It appears Malfoy has a habit of collecting wands from people he… imprisons." Snape's smirk grew wider.

She could feel her heart beat a little faster. "And who owned this?"

"Someone they thought was pretending to be the Dark Lord. Good night, Miss Granger."

Hermione smirked as she closed the door and looked down at the wand. Well, this wasn't more than fair, was it? Voldemort took her wand and now she had his. She tried to ignore that little voice inside her head that hoped he would come and try to get it. She didn't want him to come here, she wanted to hunt him down and beat him! _Liar_, the little voice inside her head said, _you want to finish what you started in that bed._ Hermione huffed at herself and put the wand in her pocket. She didn't see Snape, but she could feel how magic was being used outside. It was a little unsettling that Death Eaters were after her, but she had no doubt Snape's wards would be effective. She could always add some of her own if she found them lacking.

"Hermione?" her mother called from the kitchen.

"Coming," she called and went back to them.

The next morning, Hermione woke up to an empty house. It seemed like her parents had left for work without waking her up. She went to the kitchen and read the newspaper as she ate her breakfast. She almost choked when she read the article with the title _Strange double murder on the tube. _The police had found two bodies at the subway in the heart of London, no ID but both were dressed in black mantles and with a strange tattoo on their left arm. The police was thankful for any clue.

Dead Death Eaters. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment. It seemed like Voldemort was doing exactly what Dumbledore wanted him to do and since the Ministry hadn't had the time to stop this from being spotted by the Muggle Police, he must be doing it very well. The Ministry wouldn't miss something like this in London if they didn't have a lot of other things on their hands. She wondered how many more Death Eaters died last night. What was Voldemort doing right now? She tried to sense him, but the only thing she found was that he was feeling happy. That was another sign for many dead Death Eaters. How many did he have left? What would he do when he was done?

Those thoughts flew around in Hermione's head all day. When evening came, it was her mother's turn to cook and Hermione didn't mind helping her with it. Hugo was a better cook than Rose, but Rose was good enough to make a pleasant pasta dish. It was funnier to cook with Rose since she always talked about everything in a happy tone. She was lean and had brilliant brown eyes like Hermione, but was a little shorter and had blond straight hair. When she was younger, Hermione had envied her mother for her hair. Rose didn't have to spend fifteen minutes in the morning getting her hair in order. She usually just put it up in a ponytail and went to work. Thankfully, Hermione's hair had become a little less bushy with age.

After dinner, Hugo challenged Hermione for a game of backgammon and they played until Rose reminded her husband that it was a work day tomorrow and how cranky he became when he was tired.

Not long after that, Hermione went to bed as well. However, sleep wouldn't come. She tossed and turned for over an hour before she realised why. There was no one sleeping next to her and she wasn't as exhausted as she had been last night. It seemed like she had grown used to Voldemort's body heat and it felt so empty without him. Groaning, she gave up any thoughts of sleeping and lit the lamp. She had got it when she was ten and it had a motif of Sleeping Beauty on it. Sitting up, she looked around in her old room. The walls were bright yellow with a couple of paintings, one of a cartoon teddy bear in pyjamas and another of a cartoon horse. Over her bed was a poster of a map of the world and next to the bed stood a desk with some of her old school books on top. She got out of bed and went over to the bookshelf that was on the opposite side of the room. Reading the titles, she finally decided to reread a worn copy of _Peter Pan._ She had liked it a lot when she was younger.

With the book in her hand, she went back to bed and read until sleep finally overtook her. Nevertheless, she couldn't really shake the feeling that something (or someone) was missing.

xxx

Voldemort breathed in the cold night air. He was a predator now. He didn't need to reflect or analyse what he was doing. It was just hunting and killing. Something he was good at. Very, very good at. In the last week, he had found and executed thirty of his former Death Eaters. There weren't many left now. He had saved the best for last. This night he would hunt down Antonin Dolohov, one of the seven who tortured him. After him it was just MacNair, Yaxley and Bella left. He had taken out the Lestrange brothers last night and Lucius was already in prison and he could just as well stay there and rot.

He would save Bella for last. She was the one who first doubted him. Her betrayal was also the one who hurt the most. For so long, she had been the only woman he cared to know in any intimate way. She had been submissive and yet so aggressive. Always coming when he wanted her and never leaving him unsatisfied. True, their last time together hadn't been as pleasurable as it used to be. Somewhere along the line, Bella had become old and crazy. The truth was that he would probably not have got it up if it weren't for the thoughts of Hermione.

Hermione… he missed her company. She was the opposite of Bella and yet she was the one he wanted now. Not in any romantic way, no, he never felt feeling like that and probably never would. He wanted her as a male wanted a female. With the bond they were sharing, he had started to consider her as his. It was just as with the basilisk at Hogwarts or any other snake he had been in contact with for a longer time. He was the alpha male and Hermione was the female he wanted and he would have her after he was done killing those who betrayed him.

He was sitting on a roof in Nottingham. Antonin was supposed to be hiding in the house at the opposite side of the street but Voldemort hadn't seen anyone there yet and it was almost five in the morning. Just as he was about to lose hope to see his prey this night, the sound of someone Apparating was heard at the end of the street. The Death Eater looked tired as he slowly walked toward the house. Voldemort waited until he was almost at the door, then he attacked. Antonin didn't even have a chance to raise his wand before Voldemort bound him and dragged him into the house. He needed to ask him some questions about the location of the others before he killed him.

"You have been a very naughty boy, Antonin," Voldemort said calmly and threw the other man on the floor. "I wasn't happy when you thought I was an impostor."

Antonin eyes were wide with fear as he stared at his former master. "M-my Lord! I s-swear I was about to…"

"Too late, Antonin," Voldemort purred. "However, I may forgive you if you tell me where I can find MacNair and Yaxley."

Since very few of the Death Eaters actually liked each other, it was never hard to make them betray each other. "I d-don't know, my Lord. All I know is that they are planning to attack the Mudblood who they believe helped to… er… kidnap you."

Voldemort chuckled. "Well isn't that sweet. It seems I have been surrounded with imbeciles. No wonder things never worked out the way I wanted it to. No matter, it soon will."

"My Lord, I swear I am your most loyal…"

"Oh, please, spare me you lies, they will do you no good," Voldemort said with a grimace.

"But I thought you said you would forgive me," Antonin said pathetically and tried to wriggle out from his bonds where he was lying on the dirty floor.

Voldemort smirked. "Oh, I forgive you." A flash of green light came out from the tip of his wand and Antonin was dead. "That just doesn't mean I won't kill you."

He left the small house just as it started to lighten at the horizon. If MacNair and Yaxley were going offensive, it seemed like the best way to find them was to wait for them at their target. Voldemort couldn't help but to let out a chuckle. It seemed like he would meet Hermione sooner than he had thought. He didn't mind that one bit considering that he knew she had left the Order to stay at her parents' house. It would be a fun new game.


	7. Parents, you have to love them

Hello all! A new chapter to go and after this, there is only one more left… I hope you'll like it! Beware of the smut!

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Chapter 6 – Parents, you have to love them.

A couple of days with her parents were relaxing and fun, but after a week, Hermione remembered why she didn't live with them anymore. She loved them, sure, but there was just so much dentist-talk around the dinner table one could take before you went mad. Besides, nothing ever happened where her parents lived. It was a friendly and wealthy neighbourhood outside of London with a small grocery at the end of the street and a nice park not even a mile away.

Exactly a week after she had escaped to her parents, Hermione felt like she just had to get out. During lunch, her father started to question her about the boy she had had a fight with. Hermione had never many boyfriends, but after she made the mistake of telling her father about Viktor, the Bulgarian international Qudditch player, she had decided never to talk to her father about her love life again. Back then, Hugo had been so worried that this famous sportsman would just use her poor innocent daughter, especially since he was so much older (three years)! Hermione should know that boys that age only thought about one thing… yada, yada, yada.

Alas, after lunch, Hermione escaped her father's questions by saying she needed to take a walk. It was a cloudy Sunday in November, but at least it wasn't raining. Although, a little rain would match her mood, she just felt so lost. She didn't want to return to the Order because of the way Dumbledore was using her, at least not before he apologised. However, there was nowhere else she could go. It was almost hopeless to get a job now because of the war and since she was known as Harry Potter's best friend, no one wanted their office to become a target just because she worked there. Dumbledore had offered her a place as a library assistant, but at that time Hermione had been focusing on helping Harry find a way to bring Voldemort down. Of course that was what had got her in this mess to begin with. If she hadn't tried to lure Voldemort out by pretending to be Bella, none of this would have happened.

Although, it had proven to be an effective way to bring the Death Eaters down. And if she hadn't done it, she never would have got to know Voldemort.

Wait, why did she think that was a good thing? Just because he was a good kisser?

Hermione groaned and kicked a loose pebble on the street. She was still dreaming of him even if she was starting to get used to sleeping without him. It wasn't like those dreams when he was actually in her mind, just naughty little dreams where she used him in every possible way. In her mind she had almost forgiven him for leaving her. She did understand that he had, if he had stayed and worked out some plan, Dumbledore would most likely dispose of him the moment they had removed all Death Eaters. That was after all what he was planning to do once Voldemort had killed all Death Eaters. Hermione was angrier with Dumbledore than she was with Voldemort. However, one part of her still wondered why he couldn't have just told her he couldn't stay. Another part answered her; he had known she wouldn't have just let him leave since she had still been loyal to Dumbledore then. Merlin she was confused about her feelings!

After almost an hour of walking, she felt some drops of water fall down on her cheeks and hair. It was colder than she had expected it to be. Stuffing her cold hands in the pockets of the warm red coat she had borrowed from her mother, she turned left, heading back to the house. Even if she hadn't lived there for years, she still knew the streets like the inside of her pocket. It wouldn't take more than ten minutes for her to get back.

Unfortunately, the weather gods had decided that she could use a nice cold shower and by the time she reached the front door, she was soaking wet. Once inside she removed the wet coat and after a moment of thought, she also removed her soaked jeans. It was no use getting the whole floor wet and the laundry room was just at the other side of the hall, next to the kitchen.

"Hermione? Is that you?" came her mother's voice from the open living room door just as Hermione pulled off her wet jeans. Was there anything more uncomfortable than wet jeans?

"Yes, the rain caught me off guard." She couldn't see into the living room from where she stood, but she needed to pass the opening on her way to the laundry room. "Are there any hangers in the laundry room?" she asked as she took a couple of steps forward while watching the coat with a critical eye. It wasn't a rain coat so it would take hours for it to dry. She only hoped it wasn't ruined.

"Uh, honey?"

Hermione looked up and into the living room. She dropped the coat and her jeans. Rose was sitting in the armchair which was headed toward the door and there, on the sofa with his head turned in her direction, sat Voldemort.

"We have a guest," Rose said lamely as she stared at her half-naked daughter.

Hermione turned redder than a tomato and quickly bent down to retrieve the clothes so she could cover herself. "Let me just… change," she stuttered and hurried away.

What on earth was Voldemort doing here? She quickly hung the clothes to dry and found an old pair of slacks in the closet where her mother kept clothes that no longer fitted her. They were a little short for Hermione, but she would have to pass the living room again if she wanted to take the stairs up to her room.

Oh, Merlin, she couldn't believe Voldemort was _here_! At her parents' house! Oh, no, Voldemort was alone with her mother! What if he did something to her? Or worse, what if Rose started to tell Voldemort old stories about her!

She hurried back to the living room, only to find her mother sitting uncomfortably in the armchair. Voldemort seemed to be studying the paintings with ocean motifs on the wall.

"Mr Riddle here says that he knows you," Rose said and let her eyes wander between them.

"Uhm, yes," Hermione mumbled, wondering what Voldemort had told her mother. He gave her a small smile that told her he hadn't said anything and that made her relax a little. "Yes, Mr Riddle is an informer to the Order. You remember me telling you about the Order, right?"

Rose nodded, still looking a bit suspicious.

Voldemort stood up. "Well, I hope I'm a little more than that, Miss Granger. After all, you did save my life."

"Yes, of course." Hermione gave him a weak smile. "What can I do for you?"

Voldemort glanced as Rose before her looked at Hermione. "Well, if it isn't too much to ask, I'd like word alone with you."

Hermione looked at her mother who rose from the armchair.

"Let me make you some tea," Rose said with a smile. "Your father will be back from the grocery store soon, and if I know him correctly, he will buy too many biscuits."

Voldemort smiled friendly at Rose when she passed them.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked as soon as she heard the door to the kitchen close. She knew she should be angry with him but she couldn't, but most of her was just so relieved that he had come back.

"Well, hello Hermione, it's nice to see you too," he said with a smirk and stepped so close to her that their bodies were almost touching. She suddenly realised that she once again could clearly sense his emotions which in turn meant he was probably looking into her thoughts right now.

Quickly she put up her Occlumency shield.

He chuckled. "You do learn."

"I do. What are you doing here?" she asked again, not wanting him to know how relieved she was.

Voldemort raised his hand and stroked her cheek. "I missed you."

Yes, she could feel he was sincere, although, she could also feel something else. "But you are worried?"

His fingers moved over her face and down to her neck. "A little. MacNair and Yaxley are coming here to kill you. But do not fear, I'll protect you."

Hermione snorted. "My knight in shining armour, are you? I do believe I can take care of myself."

"Still," he mumbled and his hand came up in her hair. "It doesn't hurt to have an extra wand."

Hermione was about to complain how he stole her wand, but his face came so close and she couldn't take her eyes away from his beautiful pink lips. How many hours had she spent daydreaming about those lips this last week? She licked her lips. Finally she would be able to kiss him again.

The front door opened and Hermione jumped away from Voldemort, cursing silently. A moment later her father walked pass the opening to the living room. When he spotted his daughter with a strange man, he stopped with a frown.

"Hello?" he said and looked first at Voldemort than Hermione.

"Oh, hi dad, this is…"

Voldemort interrupted her. "Tom Riddle." He went up to Hugo and shook his hand. "I take it you are Mr Granger? Hermione has told me so much about you and your wife."

Hugo seemed a bit taken aback. "Yes… uhm, I'm sorry Mr Riddle, but I don't think my daughter has told me anything about you."

_What are you doing?_ Hermione asked Voldemort through his mind.

_Just starting on a__ good foot with your father, since I'll be staying here to wait for MacNair and Yaxley to come and try something. Then I will kill them. _Voldemort answered her mind.

She felt that he wasn't going to change his mind and it made her a bit sour that he hadn't consulted her first. Although, if she was honest, she had missed him terribly and she didn't want anything to happen to her parents so maybe it was better to just accept his help.

_Fine, I'll play along_, she said.

"Tom is a friend of mine, dad," she said. "We both work for the Order."

"More than that, Hermione, I owe you my life," Voldemort said in a tone that almost sounded fond.

Hermione gave him a smile that felt a bit plastic. Thankfully, she was saved from anymore questions by her mother who came and said that tea was ready. They all went to the kitchen and sat down around their rectangular kitchen table which had four chairs. Rose had placed four mugs and a teapot on the table and her husband took a box of biscuits from his shopping bag. Hermione poured tea for all of them.

_Are you going to tell them, or will I?_ Voldemort whispered to her mind when they had all sat in silence for a while.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Well, what Tom came here to tell me was that it seems like I may have become a target."

"Oh my…," Rose gasped.

"Why?" Hugo asked, upset.

"Your daughter is one of the most powerful witches alive," Voldemort said seriously. "There is a risk that Death Eaters will try to kidnap her."

"If they think they can come here and just take my daughter…" Rose started to say, very upset.

Voldemort interrupted her. "We don't allow that, Mrs Granger. At this moment, we are trying to find the men who were assigned this mission. Although, until that happens, we at the Order feel that Hermione can use some extra protection."

"Well, they better," Hugo growled. "After everything my daughter has done for the Order, delaying her own career and everything, that is the least they can do!"

"Yes, we are well aware of that, Mr Granger," Voldemort said calmly. "That is why I have been assigned to protect you and Hermione until the danger is over. It shouldn't take more than… three days, at most."

Rose seemed to relax. "Oh, that feels better. I'll go and ready the guestroom."

She was about to rise but Hermione held up a hand. "Actually mum, it would be better if Tom stayed in my room. We do have strong protective spells around the house, but if these people manage to break them, they can pop into my room without a sound. If Tom is there, we can guard each other's back," Hermione explained quickly. For some reason it was quite disturbing to think that Voldemort would sleep in the same house as her but not in the same bed.

Voldemort chuckled into her brain.

"We have an extra bed in the attic, right?" Hermione continued when Hugo gave them both a funny look.

"We do," Rose said slowly. "But are you sure you want to share room?"

"Like Hermione said, we need to be able to guard each other's back in case something happens," Voldemort replied smoothly. "It's no problem. That is, unless you snore?"

Hermione smiled. "Not that I know of."

"Excellent," Voldemort said.

Hermione let out a mental sigh. Her parents seemed relaxed, even if she could see the news about her being a target had put them off balance. Although, they seemed to trust her with Voldemort. It was laughable, really. Too bad she felt too guilty about lying to her parents to be able to laugh. It wasn't a complete lie, but she knew that her parents would be mad if they found out the whole truth.

Voldemort moved his hand under the table and squeezed her leg in a way that made Hermione forget about her guilt. She was going to sleep with him again. How she had longed to do that. It no longer mattered that he was an evil murderer, he made her feel something no one or no thing had ever made her feel before. His mere presence made her feel lightheaded and when he touched her, she was in heaven. She hadn't fully grasped the way she felt until just a moment ago when she had realised he was going to be with her again. But now she knew why she had felt so completely depressed the last week. He was like a drug and she didn't care if she was addicted or not.

As the evening went by, Hugo and Rose seemed to be charmed by Voldemort. He helped Rose with the dishes as they discussed Muggle politics (something Voldemort seemed to know quite a bit about) while Hugo and Hermione took down the bed from the attic and made it. When she came down, she found Voldemort discussing literature with both her parents in the living room. Hermione wished to be alone with him, but didn't want her parents to become suspicious. Alas, she sat quietly in the armchair and counted the minutes until they could go to bed.

At ten o'clock, Hugo and Rose decided that it was time to go to bed. When they had disappeared up the stairs, Voldemort let out a sigh and started to rub his temples.

"Not used to being nice?" Hermione asked teasingly. She had wanted to ask that the whole evening. He had acted like the image of friendliness, but she had felt how bored he really was.

"Well, at least your parents are better than most Muggles," Voldemort commented.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Hermione said and stood from the armchair and walked over to where he was sitting in the armchair. She sat down on her knees towards him. "You left me."

"I know. I didn't want to, but I had no choice." He tilted his head. "But you realise that? You don't seem angry."

She sighed. "I was. I wanted to hunt you down and hurt you for leaving me. But now… I'm just glad you are back, so… don't ever leave me again! If you do, I will hurt you."

He smirked. "If I had thought you would come with me, I wouldn't have knocked you out. However, I knew you would forgive me. You have missed me just as much as I've missed you."

Hermione arched an eyebrow. "You are really sure of yourself, aren't you?"

He snorted. "What is there not to be sure about?"

"Oh." Rose was standing in the hall. Somehow they hadn't noticed her coming down again. She was looking at them with a very strange expression and Hermione realised they were still holding hands. She quickly withdrew hers.

"Forgot something, mum?" she asked, trying to sound unaffected.

"I just wanted to ask Tom if he had a toothbrush. I couldn't see any luggage in the room," Rose said slowly.

"Uhm, I do have luggage, I just have it hidden," Voldemort said and stood. "Although, now when you mention it, I may have forgotten to pack one. Let me go and check."

Hermione was a bit disturbed that he would leave her like that, but maybe it was best if she could speak with her mother alone. It didn't matter if she didn't live at home anymore, her mother always seemed to look straight through her.

"Mum, I…" she began.

"No, Hermione, it's alright, you don't have to explain," Rose said kindly if only a little sad. "You are an adult now; it's none of my business… although I have to tell you that I'm a little concerned."

"About what?" Hermione asked, worried.

"Well, if your father finds out that there is something more going one between you and Tom, he won't take it so well. You'll always be his baby girl and Tom… well, he is a bit older than you, yes?" Rose didn't seem angry or hurt, just a bit puzzled.

"Yeah, but wizards tend to live longer," Hermione explained. "So and age-difference more than ten years is not so uncommon in the magical world."

"Well, just be careful," Rose advised her. "Hugo won't have you sleep in the same room if he knew."

"I know," Hermione mumbled. "But it really is important that we can look after each other."

Rose smiled. "Of course. But… was he the same boyfriend you had a fight with last week?"

Hermione looked down at her knees. "No, he is what the fight was about."

"I see. Well, good night," Rose came over and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Good night mum," Hermione said, feeling both relieved and guilty at the same time. It was nice to know that her mother didn't mind her having a relationship with an older man, but Hermione had the feeling Rose would be rather furious if she found out who the charming 'Tom Riddle' really was.

Just then, Voldemort walked back into the living room. "I did have my tooth brush, but thank you for your concern."

Rose smiled. "It was nothing, good night."

"Good night." Voldemort smiled pleasantly.

They waited a moment until they heard the door to her parents' bedroom close, then they both walked up to Hermione's room. Hermione had her own bathroom connected to her room and let him use it first. He promised to be quick and he was, she could use the bathroom only five minutes later. When she came out again, she saw that Voldemort had indeed some luggage. A small bag was standing on the extra bed she and her father had put in earlier.

"What is this?" Voldemort asked and held up the wand she had left on her nightstand.

"Snape gave it to me since my own… went missing," she replied dryly. "Not that I mind, it works almost as well as my old wand."

Voldemort huffed and reached into the bag and pulled out her wand. "Shall we make an exchange?"

Hermione smirked and took the wand she had used for the past week from his hand. "No, I like this."

"You are aware that it is mine?"

"Oh, is taking someone else's wand wrong? I had no idea," Hermione mocked.

Voldemort sighed. "Fine, I'm sorry I stole you wand."

She crossed her arms. "You don't mean that."

Voldemort arched an eyebrow. "If I didn't know better, I would think you wanted us to wrestle over it."

She could feel her body go warm. Wrestle meant intimate touching and she very much wanted that. Although, that wasn't a very good thing to say. "Of course not, I want a sincere apology."

He chuckled. "Is that so…?"

Hermione didn't even have time nod before he had pushed her down onto her bed and was lying on top of her. He stroked his nose against hers. "I'm so sorry I left you high and dry, and stole your wand. Although, I think you are more upset because I didn't have sex with you."

She would complain if it weren't for the desperate need to kiss him. His body on top of hers again felt so good, so right. With soft hands, he was massaging her head. So what if he enjoyed killing people? He would soon make her a very happy girl. At least she hoped so.

"Merlin, I've missed you," he growled and finally pressed his lips against her. She kissed back, struggling for dominance. It felt like a small explosion inside her knickers. She wanted to feel her naked skin against his. As she ripped his shirt from his body, he was tugging at hers. They both sat up and he left her lips for a moment to remove her shirt.

There wasn't much room in the bed, but somehow, it made it more intimate. They had to be close. She rose on her knees as he started to pull at her knickers and let him push them down. Then she attacked him. His back was against the wall when she threw herself into his lap and kissed him again. Voldemort kissed her back with just as much passion and let his hands wander down to her naked arse. She felt almost feverish as she let her hands roam his torso. It was like she couldn't breathe without him next to her.

He pushed her down so she was lying on her back in the bed again and in the same movement as he lay down on top of her, he also removed his boxers. Hermione let out a little squeal of happiness when she felt his hard cock against her thigh. She wanted him now and showed it by moving against him. Voldemort groaned and one of his hands found her breast and he started to caress it. She felt that he was shaking. A second later his cock brushed against her clit and Hermione let out a high moan. She felt how much he liked it as well. The other of his hands travelled down to her clit and when he moved it, Hermione saw stars and came with a scream.

"Hell," she heard him groan and felt something warm and sticky on her leg.

She smiled sleepily, a bit disappointed that she once again hadn't felt him inside her. With closed eyes, she stroked his back. "Cranky?"

"Overwhelmed. Again," he mumbled. He moved off her and went to lay on his side to her right. Hermione turned toward him and nuzzled his chest. He placed an arm around her. "Don't worry, I'm already getting used to feeling your pleasure. The next time, I'll fuck you like there is no tomorrow."

Hermione chuckled and was soon asleep.

xxx

Voldemort woke up around six when Hermione's parents started to get ready for work. He smirked against the ceiling. If they knew what he did with their daughter, they would probably chase him off the face of the earth. Although, Mrs Granger seemed to suspect something, but probably not the whole truth. He would keep it that way. He had put numerous spells on the room so that no inappropriate sounds (like the ones Hermione had done last night) slipped out and if one of her parents decided to take a peek inside, they would see an illusion in which he was laying in his bed and Hermione alone in hers.

About and hour later the Grangers had left the house and Voldemort turned around to look at the sleeping girl in his arms. She really looked like a girl when she slept. Nevertheless, she was still the woman who made his blood boil with lust and ejaculate like a school boy by a mere touch. It was overwhelming, but the next time he would fuck her, just as he had promised. The thought about her tight hot cunt around his cock made him hard.

Maybe he would test his luck with a morning fuck? It wasn't like they had any pressing business to do. Just wait until MacNair and Yaxley came and that could take days. Sex would help them passed the time. Oh, yes, he would pass a lot of time with sex…

His hand travelled over her body and in between her legs. Hermione sighed in her sleep and moved her right leg a little to give him room. Voldemort's smirk widened and he bent down to captured on of her nipples in his mouth. His hand moved over her wet pussy and he could feel how pleasant it was for her. He took his time before he pressed his finger inside her.

Hermione woke up with a gasp. With his fingers still inside her, unmoving, he kissed a trail from her breast and up to her month. She was breathing hard when he finally found her lips in a consuming kiss. Her hands came up to his neck and hair.

Then, out of the blue, Hermione let out a painful groan and pushed him away. With the blink of an eye, she had left the bed and hurried into the bathroom, leaving Voldemort very disoriented. He could feel her at the back of his head. She was in pain and felt sick. Why? He was sure he hadn't hurt her. Or had he? When he looked down at his hand he realised that the hand that had been inside her was bloody. However, it didn't smell as nice as normal blood. This smelled… old.

Voldemort cursed when he realised what it was. Her monthly bleeding had begun. From the sound of it, it didn't agree with her. Still cursing over his unluckiness (she would most likely not have sex with him now) he went over to his bag and withdrew a small vial of pain-relieving potion before he followed her to the bathroom. She was kneeling over the toilet, being sick.

He washed his hands and wetted a towel for her. Then he sat down next to her and helped her hold her hair away. This was far from the first time he had been with a woman who was throwing up and it would probably not be the last time. Although, this was the first time he actually made an effort to comfort the woman. Not that it was a surprise; he was starting to feel sick too, only because he could feel her sickness through the bond.

"Is it always this bad?" he asked in a low voice when she finally sank down.

She thankfully wiped her face with the towel he handed her. "No, maybe once or twice every year and it never lasts for more than a day. But Merlin, I feel sick." She rested her body against him.

"Drink this." He handed her the vial. "It's for the pain."

She drank it and then shuddered. "It tastes horrible."

"It's very effective," he said. "Now, let's wash you off."

He lifted her up and carried her over to her shower. As the water started to fall down on top of them, he helped her to clean herself. It seemed like the pain-relieving potion was making her a bit dozy. He was quite uncomfortable with the situation. Sure, people had come to him for help before, and he had helped them (of course there had been a price to pay later) but never had he helped someone in this way. It wasn't that he knew how much Hermione had to trust him to let him drug her and take care of her, it was that he _felt _how much she trusted him. Since her Occlumency shield was gone, he could see everything she was thinking and feeling. He hadn't even known a person was able to trust someone that much. She was laying her life in his hands and even though she was aware of it, she didn't mind. She knew he wouldn't harm her.

That was the scariest thing of them all. He too knew he wouldn't harm her. Not just that but he _couldn't_. It would be like hurting himself in a way and Voldemort was far from masochistic. The bond between them was stronger than he ever thought was possible. Their relationship was stronger than he ever thought was possible.

Shaking off the unsettling thoughts, he left the bathroom and let her use the toilet and get dressed. He dressed quickly as well. When she came out, she was wearing pyjamas.

"That… potion was strong," she slurred.

Yes, thankfully it was. He couldn't feel her pain anymore. "I know. Perhaps it will be better if you sleep it off?"

She nodded and yawned. "Stay close."

He helped her into bed and kissed her forehead. "I'll know if you need me."

The potion had her asleep within the minute and Voldemort left the room, leaving the door open. He went down and made himself some breakfast, trying not to think about the blur in the back of his head that was the sleeping girl. After breakfast, he used almost ten minutes trying to figure out how the TV worked. He had watched TV once back in the fifties in a Muggle hotel and it hadn't been too bad to pass the time with. However, after another five minutes he realised that the TV had changed a lot in fifty years (who cared that some ugly rich girl had bought bigger boobs?) and switched it off again. Luckily, it didn't take him long to find the basement and a library. There weren't any magical books, but he found some he thought looked interesting and carried them up to the living room.

Hermione woke up once during the morning and asked for some water and crackers before she fell asleep again. Voldemort was quite bored when Rose came home at two o'clock. It appeared she only worked half the day on Mondays while Hugo wouldn't come home before six.

"Where is Hermione?" Rose asked, surprised of seeing him alone in the living room.

"Upstairs, asleep," Voldemort said and put his book away. "Her period started and I gave her something for the pain."

"Oh, dear," Rose said with a sigh and sat down on the sofa. "I take it this was one of the bad times?"

"So it would appear," Voldemort answered and leaned back in the armchair.

"You seem to take it very well for a man," Rose said with a smile. "Hugo always leaves the room when we start to talk about our period."

Voldemort chuckled. "It takes a lot more than that to scare me away. I was Head Boy at Hogwarts and one of my many jobs was keeping a stack of pain-relieving potions and extra pads for girls in need."

"That seems like a strange job for a Head Boy," Rose remarked.

"Well, our Head of House liked to delegate jobs he found unpleasant," Voldemort said and smiled at the memory. In return Professor Slughorn had brewed him some really rare potions.

"I see. You weren't in Gryffindor then? Because when I met Professor McGonagall she said she had been the head of Gryffindor for over thirty years," Rose explained.

"No, I was in Slytherin," Voldemort answered, reminding himself that it was best to be careful not to mention a lot of names. He didn't want Rose to realise he had actually been in school while McGonagall was still a student. "I hope your daughter hasn't said too many nasty things about my former house."

Rose chuckled. "No, just about a boy named Draco Malfoy and his friends. Do you know them?"

"The Malfoy family is famous, but I can't say I know Draco." That was true; he had never bothered to get to know the boy.

"You never went to school at the same time as Hermione, did you?" Rose said with a thoughtful look.

"Ah, no, I'm afraid I'm a bit over thirty," Voldemort said with a chuckle. "And perhaps that was for the best, I don't think the librarian would have been happy to pick up tons of books from two booklovers."

Rose laughed and was about to ask something else when a crash was heard from upstairs. For a moment he thought that it was Hermione, but she was still deeply asleep. That meant something was wrong.

"Stay here," he said to Rose and walked up the stair as silently as a cat. He checked the wards around the house and felt a disturbance. It made him hurry his steps.

Voldemort came to the room just in time to see Yaxley open the window and MacNair lifting up the girl. Voldemort became furious.

"What do you think you are doing?" he growled, stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. The silencing spell was still functioning when the door was closed and there was no need for Rose to hear what was about to happen.

"Don't you think about it, mate," MacNair said with a nasty smile. "You are outnumbered."

"Oh, really?" Without a moment of warning he had killed Yaxley at the window. "Put her down."

MacNair's smile vanished and he changed his position so he was using Hermione as a shield. Voldemort could sense that she was about to wake up, but didn't take his eyes from MacNair who had transfigured his wand into a knife. It was a neat trick MacNair had always liked because it was easier to hurt someone who was close with a knife than with a spell.

"I just wanna ask the lass some questions, you can have her back when I'm done," MacNair said and pressed the knife against Hermione's stomach.

Voldemort didn't move. He knew MacNair would stab her the moment he cast a spell.

"Maybe I can answer them for you?" Voldemort said and tilted his head.

"Okay, tell me where the Dark Lord is," MacNair ordered.

"You are looking at him," Voldemort answered simply.

"Nah, don't try that one with me, Bella and Lucius already exposed you." MacNair took a step toward the window, dragging Hermione in front of him. He saw that Hermione had woken up and was quite scared. He ignored it for now.

"Bella is a crazy and jealous bitch and Lucius has waited for an opportunity to overthrow me since I came back," Voldemort stated, looking for an opening.

A flicker of uncertainness was seen in MacNair's eyes. "Then who has been killing off all the Death Eaters?"

"Me of course," Voldemort answered, still very calm. "You all know the price of betraying me."

MacNair seemed to try to understand something. "But if you are the Dark Lord, what are you doing with Potter's Mudblood?"

Voldemort took the chance to glance down at her Hermione; her eyes were on the knife. In the back of his head, he felt what she was about to do.

"Because she is cleverer than all Death Eaters together," he said with a smirk just as Hermione grabbed the arm that was holding her and pushed it away at the same time as she ducked. Since MacNair hadn't realised Hermione was awake, he was taken off guard and Voldemort had no problem hitting him with an Avada Kedavra.

"Are you okay?" he asked and walked over to her.

Hermione rose slowly and checked her arms and stomach for any injuries. It seemed like she would have a couple of bruises from where MacNair grabbed her, but otherwise she was okay. However, now when the adrenalin was starting to wear off, Hermione started to shake. Voldemort captured her before she fell and helped her back to the bed. Of course, it had to be traumatising to wake up and find yourself in the arms of someone who would probably kill you.

"Merlin, we killed him," she mumbled into his chest. "I helped you killed him!"

Oh, so it was killing-angst she had. Voldemort had seen it many times before even if he had never experienced it himself.

"I could feel him die," she sobbed. "He just… died!"

Voldemort sighed. "Yes, humans really do die easily."

She let out a tortured whimper. "I'm such a horrible person! I was relieved when he died! How can I feel relieved?"

"Because he was going to hurt you," Voldemort said, rolling his eyes. "Trust me Hermione, some people are better off dead. MacNair was one of them."

Hermione pushed away from his chest and stared at him in disbelief. "How can you say that? How can _you_ say that? It's your fault he was a Death Eater; it was on your order he killed and tortured so many. Even now he thought he was doing it for you! Merlin, how can you stand looking at yourself in the mirror? How can I stand being with you? You are turning me into one of them, aren't you! You are turning me into a murderer!" She had begun hitting at his chest as she screamed at him.

Voldemort captured her wrists hard. He could stand a little angst, but this was just too much. "Listen to me, you stupid little girl! I may have given out orders to my Death Eaters to kill and torture, but none of them minded it! People killed each other long before I was even born! All of them already had the seed to kill inside of them. In some cases I helped that seed grow, but I never planted the seed! Many humans are murderers; I merely took advantage of that." His voice grew soft. "As for you, my dear Hermione, you have the seed too. I know you can kill, but… I also know you will never enjoy it. You will only take killing as a last resort, to protect yourself or the ones you care for. So don't worry, you'll never be like me."

Hermione started to cry hard, but let him embrace her. He knew she took comfort from his words. He could feel how she accepted it. She would never go back to the Order now because they wouldn't be able to see the difference between her and Voldemort. They would only see that she was capable of working and killing together with Voldemort. Like a Death Eater. But Voldemort knew that she would never be a Death Eater, he only saw her. That was why she was going to stay with him. He would never leave her again.


	8. Who cares about good and evil

Okay, so here is the last chapter. Smut is finally coming!

I'd like to thank Ankoku Dezaia for all the help betaing all chapters and also thank MrsMalfoy288 for all the work you did betaing. I also want to send a huge cookie basket to all my wonderful reviews. And MegNutz, clio, lima and Jay, even if you are anonymous so I can't reply your reviews, I just want you to know that I really appreciate them too!

On with the show!

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Chapter 7 – Who cares about good and evil when you are happy?

Hermione couldn't stop crying. Voldemort was holding her tightly and it felt very comfortable even if she felt like she was betraying the Order by doing it. However, no one from the Order had been here to save her from the two Death Eaters. Neither had they bothered to try to ask her how her bond with Voldemort may affect her. Did anyone from the Order really care about her? Well, of course she knew Harry, Ginny, Ron and the rest of the Weasleys cared for her. Remus and Sirius probably cared for her too, but she had always felt like they didn't really understand her, only different parts of her. Harry and Ron understood her will for adventures and mysteries. Ginny understood her soft feminine side and they could talk about feelings. Remus understood her need for knowledge and Sirius… well, Sirius was often quite clueless about everything, but at least he tried.

Nevertheless, no one understood how to combine all this. No one understood the whole her and no one ever did. Not until now. Voldemort understood her will for adventure and mysteries as well as need for knowledge and didn't he just now show her that he understood what she was feeling? Her fear for becoming like him? But he had said that she would never be like him because she didn't like killing people. It made such perfect sense. No matter how much she felt his emotions or shared his life and bed, she would never become like him because she couldn't enjoy hurting another person.

She could feel Voldemort turn a little and heard him mumble the same spell twice. She knew that spell, instant cremation. Then he opened the window and mumbled another spell that would make the wind carry the ashes out. In a way she was relieved, she would never have to see those bodies again. Although, how could she stand being here, in this room, after two people had been murdered?

A knock was heard on the door. Hermione hid her face deeper into Voldemort's chest. He opened the door with his wand and she could hear her mother enter.

"What happened?" Rose sounded scared but Hermione didn't want to look at her mother right now. That would only make her cry more. She knew she needed a couple of days before she could come to turns with what just happened.

"The potion I gave Hermione seemed to have given her some nightmares," Voldemort replied softly. "And sometimes when witches have nightmares weird things happen. It seems she made things fly and smash into the walls."

"Oh, of course," Rose said understanding. "Yes, she did that quite a lot when she was younger, with water glasses and lamps… she always said she had nightmares and since we could only see the broken glass, we assumed she had imagined seeing something and just thrown the thing that was nearest."

Hermione smiled a little. Rose had to be worried to ramble like she did. Taking a deep breath she turned her head. "I'm okay, mum. I will just never take that potion again."

Rose smiled at her daughter. "Do you want me to make you some tomato soap and warm bread?"

"Yes please," Hermione said, remembering all the other times her mother had made tomato soap when she had been sick.

"Do you want some too, Tom?" Rose asked and looked at Voldemort.

"Yes, if it isn't any trouble." It really was laughable to think Voldemort actually cared.

"No trouble at all, I'll call you when it's done," Rose said with a smile and left the room.

"She thinks we are together," Hermione whispered and traced her fingers over his arm.

Voldemort chuckled. "Aren't we together?"

"I never pictured you the type who wanted a girlfriend," she mumbled.

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean I can have a monogamous relationship," he mumbled into her hair. "Although, I will warn you once, a relationship with me is for life."

Hermione shuddered and thought about the Death Eaters he had hunt down and killed. "So I've noticed."

"Excellent."

They sat quietly in each other's arms. Hermione was wondering about the choice she was about to make and Voldemort was musing over the last Death Eaters he had to kill. Hermione knew he was thinking about it because he let her. He wanted her to come with him. Hermione's thoughts turned to Bellatrix Lestrange. The woman was mad and there was no telling what she could do now when she had no one to order her around. Or was it? After all, Hermione had studied her for months before she tried to break into Voldemort's headquarters. Couldn't she figure out what the mad woman thought? Bella was the one who had been certain Hermione and Snape had kidnapped Voldemort. She would want to find her old lover. After everything she had been ready to do to heal him, she must be madly in love with him. Or was it just obsession? It didn't matter; she would do anything in her power to get him back. Probably kill anyone who got in her way. What if she too would come after Hermione? Or someone else in the Order?

"I'm not sure yet about the relationship," she finally said. "But I will help you find Lestrange. She is too dangerous to be free."

"I agree. We will leave tomorrow then… that is if you are feeling better." Voldemort placed a hand on her stomach.

"I feel a little better already," she said, just remembering that she still had her period. "But if you want too, you can rub my tummy until mum is ready with the soap."

Voldemort chuckled and lay her down on the bed again. Hermione closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his strong hand over her stomach.

xxx

When night came, Hermione told her parents that she would follow Voldemort to improve her magical skills and learn new things. She also told them that the Order had sent her a message earlier, telling her that they had captured the ones who had targeted her. That made her parents very relieved.

Although, everything was about to crash down on them when there was a knock on the door. They were all been playing card in the living room and Hugo, who had already lost, went to open.

"Hermione, your professor is here again," Hugo called.

Hermione's eyes widened and she caught Voldemort's look who merely shrugged. She stood and went to the hall. It was indeed Professor Snape who was standing there.

"Good evening, Miss Granger," he greeted her. "May I have a word alone?"

"Yes, of course," Hermione said quickly, wanting to get him away from her father before Snape could say something that would blow Voldemort's cover. After all, Voldemort had said 'Tom' was there on orders from the Order. It wouldn't look good if Snape was surprised to see him here. "Perhaps you want to speak with Tom as well?"

She led him past the living room where Voldemort was already standing.

It seemed like she had underestimated Snape's abilities to act. Her old professor didn't even move a muscle at the sight of his old master. "Yes, I could use a word with Tom as well."

"Excuse us," Voldemort said to her parents and they all went to the kitchen.

Hermione put up a silencing charm before she turned to Snape. "What are you doing here?"

Snape didn't look at her, his eyes were on Voldemort who had come up to stand next to Hermione, leaning against the table. "I came here because Dumbledore wanted me to warn you that some Death Eaters may be after you. We just got word of it."

Voldemort snorted. "Just got word of if? No wonder the Order never got anything done."

Snape arched an eyebrow.

"They have already been here," Hermione explained. "Voldemort… or rather, we… k-killed them." She could feel how tears started to rise in her eyes again like it had done all afternoon when she thought about what had happened.

Voldemort pulled her into his embrace as she fought back the tears.

"That will be a relief for the others to hear," Snape said dryly. "May I ask why you are helping her?"

Voldemort chuckled. "I can't believe I never saw you for what you really are, Severus."

"And what is that?" Snape asked. He didn't sound nervous at all, but Hermione got the feeling he was.

"A Gryffindor-lover. I should have seen the signs," Voldemort said with a sigh. "You never got over Lily Evans, did you? At first I though that it would inspire you to try to kill her boy, but now I see that you could never hurt something that is half-Lily."

Hermione's eyes were wide. Snape had loved Harry's mother? That was weird and yet… well, it explained a lot.

"You are not going to kill him, are you?" Hermione asked and looked up at him.

Voldemort looked down at her with a smile. "No. No matter what he said, he was never my true follower, thereby he never truly betrayed me. To me there is no difference if he lives or dies." He kissed her forehead.

That actually made sense too, even if it sounded weird. "Good, because if you wanted to, I would call him my friend and you gave me an oath not to harm my friends."

Voldemort chuckled and let one of his hand sneak under her shirt so it was resting on her stomach. "Minx."

Hermione leaned her head against his shoulder, wondering what Snape thought about seeing her in the arms of Voldemort. He did seem a little uncomfortable.

Voldemort seemed to notice it as well. "You still see her as a little girl, don't you Severus?"

Snape blinked. "Well in compare to us, she is."

"Compare to us, she is young, but not a child," Voldemort corrected him. "Far, far from it."

Hermione felt like purring as his fingers stroked her tummy while he was defending her from Snape. It felt nice having him standing up for her and not be ashamed to show their intimacy in front of other wizards. However, if his hand started to move upwards or downwards, she would push him away. She did have some dignity!

Snape cleared his throat. "Well, the Headmaster also wanted to know when you planned to return to Grimmauld Place?"

"Then you can tell the Headmaster that I won't come back for as long as he keeps hiding things involving me from me!" she retorted. "I'll stay with Voldemort for now."

Snape looked up at Voldemort. "What are you planning?"

"Well tomorrow we will begin our hunt for Bella," Voldemort answered in a chipper tone. "Then I believe we can do whatever we want to do."

"I see," Snape said. "Then I guess there is nothing left for me to do than wish you a goodnight."

"I'll walk you to the door," Hermione said and broke free from Voldemort. When he arched an eyebrow she shook her head. She wanted a word alone with Snape.

"What's on your mind that your… lover can't hear, Miss Granger?" Snape asked in a low voice when they were at the door.

"Can you please tell Harry that my choice has nothing to do with them?" she asked. "I just can't stand the way Dumbledore has treated me and… well, everyone."

Snape sighed. "You do realise that your friends won't understand?"

She looked down at her feet. "Probably not at first, but I still want them to know. And I did tell you the truth. I made him take an oath not to harm my friends for any reason other than self-defence. I also meant it when I said that I won't let him hurt you either." She looked up at him again.

Something that reminded her of a smile past her old teacher's lips. "Your concern is appreciated, but misplaced, Miss Granger."

"What do you mean?" she asked with a frown.

Snape sighed. "I mean that you have chosen a very dangerous man to love, Miss Granger. I sincerely hope it won't cost you your life. Good night."

Hermione stared after him, gaping. She didn't love Voldemort. Did she? She shook her head. She hadn't even chosen if she wanted to be with him yet! Huffing, she closed the door and went back into the living room. Voldemort was already sitting there and Hugo was just about to give out a new hand of card.

They played for another hour and then they all went to bed. Voldemort made himself ready as Hermione said goodbye to her parents since they probably wouldn't meet in the morning before they went to work. When Hermione crawled down in her old bed next to Voldemort, she felt uneasy. She tossed and turned for ten minutes before Voldemort finally stopped her.

"If you aren't tried, there is things we can do to make you tired," he suggested and stroked her thigh.

"It's not that," she muttered. "Do you believe in karma?"

"No, can't say I do, why?" He turned to his side and leaned his head against his elbow so he could look down at her.

"Well, this room just feels like it's full of bad energy now," she tried to explain. "What if I fall asleep and they start hunting me in my dreams?"

Voldemort snorted. "I highly doubt that will happen."

"Still, I don't want to sleep here." She sat up and rubbed her arms.

"Well, like I said, there are other things we can do if you don't want to sleep," he purred and sat up as well, leaning toward her.

"I'm still bleeding a lot," she objected. "And I don't feel horny at all."

Voldemort sighed and sat back. "Fine, what do you want to do?"

Hermione nibbled her lower lip. "We could watch a film? I mean, I know you don't like Muggle-things but it's been years since I last saw one and I just feel like I could use a good laugh, you could…"

He pressed a finger against her lips. "You are rambling, Hermione. And I don't mind watching a film with you. I think I can stand it once every fifty years or so."

Hermione smiled and started to put her pyjamas on. Voldemort, who didn't have a pyjamas dressed in the same clothes he had had earlier. They tiptoed down to the living room again and Hermione opened the cabinet where they kept their films. It seemed like her parents had started to buy DVDs since she was last here, but she couldn't see any titles she liked so she went over to the more familiar videotapes. Her eyes fell on one of her favourites and she pulled it out with a smile.

"What about this?" she asked.

"I'll just trust your good judgment," was his reply.

Hermione smirked as she put the tape in the VCR and took a blanket with her on the way to the sofa where Voldemort was sitting. She snuggled up against him and he helped her place the blanket over her.

"What is it called?" he asked.

"_The Dictator_," she said smugly.

Voldemort snorted. "Your idea of a joke?"

"I thought it was suitable. It's a comedy with Charlie Chaplin. It's really a parody of Hitler and the Nazis," she explained as she pressed play on the remote.

"Ah, Hitler. I never really liked him," Voldemort said thoughtfully.

"Have you met him?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Once, I was trying to come in contact with Grindelwald. I heard a rumour that he was trying to make a deal with Hitler so I went to Germany and… well, I broke into Hitler's bedroom. Turned out he never met Gridelwald and had no idea wizards existed. I put a memory-charm on him and left again," Voldemort explained causally.

Hermione laughed. "Did he say something?"

"He screamed at me in German, but I didn't know the language back then. I assumed it was something like 'get out' or maybe 'help'." Voldemort smirked at the memory.

Hermione chuckled and leaned her head against his shoulder and they watched the film with only a couple of comments here and there. When it was over, they started to watch another one. She didn't even realise she had fallen asleep until Voldemort was carrying her up the stairs.

"Whus?" she mumbled.

"Just sleep on, Hermione," he whispered and lay her down in her bed.

Thankfully she did.

xxx

Voldemort was relieved when they finally left the Granger resident. He had been telling the truth when he said that they were okay for Muggles, and it had been a fun game to play. But there were other things he wanted to do, like find and kill Bella and then be off his merry way with Hermione.

Unusual for him, he didn't have any grand plan once he killed Bella. He just wanted to be with Hermione. Never had he met someone like Hermione before, someone he actually enjoyed spending time with and who he felt he could trust. It was probably because he could see into her mind and hence see if she planned to kill him or betray him, but still… he could relax in her presence. It was a very new experience for him and he found himself enjoying it so much that he wanted it to last forever.

Hermione didn't know it, and he didn't plan to tell her, but she had no choice. She _would _stay with him forever, no matter what it would take. Although, since he wanted her to want to stay with him he would do his best to keep her happy and content and also make sure no one else came with a more appealing offer. In other words; he would give her the world and kill off any competition.

But first, they would kill Bella.

Voldemort knew that Bella was hiding somewhere in York so he rented a room for him and Hermione in a small hotel. York had a quite large wizard-population, but since Bella was a very recognisable fugitive, she would probably hide in the Muggle-part. She would also have to be cleverly disguised and Voldemort was afraid not even he would recognise her. There was a time when he would have recognised her aura or whatever you wished to call it, anywhere. However, since her time in Azkaban, she had changed and gone utterly mad. Unfortunately, that didn't stop her from being sneaky, just more unpredictable.

He and Hermione discussed it and both came to the same conclusion; Bella would want to avenge her lover. If she saw him or Hermione, the chance was big that she would forget all sense of cautiousness and just attack them. It wouldn't be hard to take her down once she did that.

Their plan was simple. He and Hermione would walk around in York as much as possible, go sightseeing, eat dinner out and other things a couple could be expected to do and wait for Bella to show up.

Hermione didn't seem to mind it at all. Even if he knew she had her eyes open all the time, she really seemed to enjoy being out with him. This pleased him, but after three days with no sight of Bella, he was utterly bored of Muggles and York.

On Friday morning, he woke up pressed against Hermione's delicious body. The last three mornings, he had tried to pull her knickers down, only to get his hands smacked away.

"Are you still bleeding?" he mumbled into her hair.

"I told you," came her annoyed answer. "I always bleed at least five days. You'll know when I don't bleed anymore."

"How?"

"Because I'll jump you and rip your clothes off," she hissed and rolled out of bed.

They were staying in an ordinary hotel room with a green double bed in the middle and some closets and a desk along the walls. Hermione walked over the dark green carpet, straight to the bathroom which was right next to the exit. Voldemort heard her lock the door and rolled to his back. Merlin how he wanted to fuck that woman!

Once Hermione was done, he rolled out of bed and went to get ready and when he was done as well, they went downstairs to eat breakfast in the hotel's restaurant.

"What shall we do today?" Hermione asked and smeared caviar on her boiled egg.

Voldemort glanced out of the window. It was the last week of November and it was cold and rainy. "I think we have been to every indoor event there is, perhaps we should just stroll around?"

"Fine. Hopefully she will be able to see us because I very much doubt anyone else will be out for a walk in this weather," Hermione muttered darkly.

Voldemort could feel she was just as sick of York as he was. What if Bella had moved to another city? He decided to give it the rest of the week. If she hadn't turned up by then, he would try to track her down instead.

Done with breakfast and wrapped inside warm sweatshirts and water-repealing spells, they walked up and down the cobbled streets of York. They had lunch and Hermione dragged Voldemort into several bookstores now and then. Since Voldemort was rich (he had put money into the Muggle world for decades in case of an emergency) he didn't mind buying her some of the books she wanted and was well paid back later in an alley. It was during one of those snogging-sessions Voldemort felt that they were being watched.

"What?" Hermione asked when he withdrew from her.

She stood pushed against the wall with her hair messy and her lips red from the cold and the kisses. He had one of his hands on her breast inside her shirt and the other one on her leg while she had both her hands on his arse, pressing him against her.

"Shh," he hushed her and turned his head toward the opening to the street. No one was there. He looked deeper into the alley, but couldn't see anything there either. Nevertheless, he knew someone was watching them.

"What?" Hermione asked again.

"Never mind," Voldemort said cautiously and captured her lips again. He didn't let himself get too caught up in the kiss, but kept his awareness in the alley around them. Whoever it was, he hoped he or she would try to attack them.

After about five minutes with nothing happening, he let go of Hermione. It was almost four in the afternoon. Perhaps they could go home and rest and try their luck later the night? He let Hermione hear his plans through their bond and she gave her silent agreement.

"Hermione?"

They both turned around with their hands on their wands. He could feel that Hermione was very surprised when she saw who it was.

"Ginny?" she asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

Voldemort eyes the girl suspiciously. She was shivering, but he couldn't tell if it was because she was only wearing a thin maroon jacket or because she was scared of him.

"Harry and I wanted to see you," the girl said with a glance at Voldemort. "Dumbledore told us that you had left us for him. We didn't believe him until we talked to you. Although, when I saw you in the alley…"

"We should talk, then," Hermione said and turned to Voldemort. "I'll meet you back at the hotel."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed, but he could feel that she wouldn't have it any other way. "Very well," he said. However, before he left, he gave her a quick kiss, just to show her friend that he could. Hermione rolled her eyes at him and then left with the other girl.

He stared after them. Was it the Weasley girl he had felt back in the alley? For some reason he didn't think so. Although, whoever it was, they hadn't attacked them like he was sure Bella would do. Maybe just some pervert? Shaking his head, he turned and started to walk back to the hotel. Hermione was a big girl, she could take care of herself. Besides, if something did happen to her, he would be able to Apparate to her.

Then out of the blue, he was hit in his back by a curse and his world turned black.

xxx

Hermione and Ginny went into a small and cosy café. Ginny had already contacted Harry with her Patronus and they ordered three cups of coffee and a plate of scones while they waited for him.

"How did you find me?" Hermione asked as they waited.

"Luck. We had just started to search when Percy came and said that he had seen you yesterday. He is working for the Ministry with something top secret here," Ginny explained. She seemed to have her guard up and Hermione felt uncomfortable with it. She and Ginny used to talk about everything.

A minute later, Harry showed up. "Hello Hermione."

He too seemed to have her guard up even if he tried to smile at her. Hermione smiled back, uncertainly. "Hi Harry."

They sat quietly for a moment, sipping their coffee, until Ginny couldn't hold it any longer. "Is it true? Are you hooking up with You-Know-Who?"

Hermione sighed. "I'm not certain that is the right term, but yes, I am."

Harry looked like she had hit him in the stomach. "Why? The man is a psychopath."

"Well, at least he is honest with me!" Hermione exclaimed. "I just can't stand Dumbledore after how he has played with me. And since he is using Voldemort to get rid of the Death Eaters, I don't think he is any better than him!"

Ginny and Harry shared a glance Hermione couldn't read.

"Look, you have to believe me," Hermione said and leaned forward in her chair. "I still love you, Ron, Remus and Sirius, but I can't stand being with Dumbledore. Voldemort is… I know he isn't a good man, but he is nice and honest with me and…" She tried to find the right word and Ginny interrupted.

"I know how charming he is, Hermione, sure I was only eleven and he never did more than talk with me. But I trusted him with my soul and he tried to kill me!"

"But this is different," Hermione explained. "We share a bond."

Even she could hear how ridiculous that sounded and Harry and Ginny shared another look. This time she knew what it meant, they thought she was in love with him.

"That is what I mean, Hermione," Ginny said carefully. "He makes you feel special, that you have a bond…"

Hermione realised no one had told her the bond and sent an angry thought to Dumbledore. "No, that is not what I mean. I mean we have a _bond_. He is inside me all the time just as I'm inside him. It's like a link."

Both her friends stared at her like she had grown a unicorn horn. She sighed and explained, form the beginning, what had really happened when she was captured pretending to be Bella and how the bond had developed. Harry and Ginny seemed to become more and more horrified. She felt a bit stupid for not having told Harry all this the last time she talked to him.

"So you mean he can hear this conversation right now?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm using Occlumency against him, he can only feel my emotions. Although, it wouldn't be hard for him to break through my shield, but at least I would know he did it."

Harry seemed thoughtful. "Are you staying with him to protect us?"

Hermione hadn't really thought about it in that way before. "No, although, that was why I had to live without you at Grimmauld Place. But everything just seems so much easier when I'm with him. I can't really explain it but… he makes me… content in a way I haven't felt before."

"You sound like you are in love with him," Harry huffed.

Hermione sighed. "I don't know. If I am, it's not like any love I've experienced before."

"Hermione, he has killed hundreds of people," Harry said in a sad voice. "What makes you think he won't use you to kill more?"

"Because I'll be there to stop him," Hermione said calmly. "I've already made him give me an oath not to physically harm anyone of you, if it's not in self-defence."

"He agreed with that?" Ginny asked, frowning. "He has tried to kill Harry since he was a baby!"

Hermione shrugged. "Yes, he agreed to it. I just don't think he is interested in you anymore, Harry."

"So what is his plan now?" Harry wanted to know.

"I don't know, I don't think he actually has one," Hermione explained. "He is in a susceptible state right now. I will try to make sure he doesn't try to conquer the world in a new way."

"You really think you can do that?" Ginny asked doubtfully.

Hermione held out her hands. "I can't do more than try, can I?"

They talked some more for half-an-hour. Harry and Ginny seemed to realise that she wouldn't come back to the Order even if she still was friends with them. They weren't happy about it, but at least they promised not to stop her. Although, Harry did say that if he thought Voldemort was hurting her in any way, he would hunt him down and kill him. Hermione dryly replied that if Voldemort hurt her, she would do the killing.

They parted as friends, thought not as warmly as they usually did. Nevertheless, Hermione was glad she had got the chance to explain her situation to them. She knew they would never accept Voldemort, but at least they were willing to let her try her way with him. As she walked back to the hotel, she sadly thought that they would never be able to stay in the same room together. It made her a bit thoughtful. Was Voldemort really worth that? Maybe a couple of years, but as he had said, a relationship with him was forever. She would have to consider that before she gave him her final decision.

When she came to her hotel-room, she knocked on the door. Voldemort had the only key and she didn't want to use magic unless she needed too. No answer came and she searched for him at the back of her mind. He seemed to be asleep. That was strange because she had never seen him sleep during the day. Only that time when he had been injured. A bit worried, she opened the door with her wand and stepped in. The room was empty.

Now Hermione started to become really worried. There was no way Voldemort would just fall asleep at some random place. She locked the door behind her, closed her eyes and searched for him again at the back of her mind, and then she Apparated.

She opened her eyes and found herself standing in a small stinking basement. Before she had the time to look around, someone fired a hex at her. Luck made her duck in the right time and she spun around and saw Voldemort being chained to the wall. Next to him stood Bellatrix Lestrange.

Hermione had met Bellatrix a couple of times before and the woman had always looked mad. Now she looked madder than usual. She was dirty and skeleton-thin and it was a mystery for Hermione how she managed to hold her wand up.

"You!" Bellatrix shirked when she recognised Hermione. "You evil little bitch! What did you do with him? WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIM?"

For a moment, Hermione had no idea what she was talking about, but then she realised it was Voldemort. Or rather, the Dark Lord she thought Hermione had kidnapped.

"Nothing," Hermione answered honestly as she kept her eyes on Bella's wand. She didn't want to reach for her own wand because she was quite sure the mad woman would attack her if she did. If she managed to get a little closer, she would be able to disarm her with her bare hands, but for some reason, she didn't think Bella would allow that either.

"LIAR!" Bella shouted and Hermione found herself tied to the wall by a spell. Damn, this wasn't good. Before she had time to think of a way to break free, Bella had aimed her wand toward Voldemort. "Maybe a little torture of your lover will loosen your tongue?"

If this had been any other situation, Hermione would have been quite impressed by Bella's magical skill. Quicker than she had seen anyone, Bella cast three spells in a row. One to wake Voldemort up, another to summon Hermione's wand from her pocket and a third to start to torture Voldemort. However, this wasn't any other situation and Hermione was horrified when she saw the pain Bella inflicted on him. Horrified and angry.

It was like the time Voldemort had bound her to the bed and threatened to kill all her friends. Hermione tore free from the spell that was holding her and threw herself at the older woman. She managed to get in two painful hits before Bella started to fight back. Although, it appeared that Bella was more capable at martial art than Voldemort had been. She also wore more weapons then her wand, which Hermione had managed to knock out of her hand. A knife appeared in Bella's left hand and Hermione didn't see it before it had already slithered over her right upper arm. She hissed at the pain and tried to get the knife from Bella.

Years afterwards, Hermione would still wonder how it really happened. One moment, Bella was on top of her with the blade of the knife pressed between them, in the next, Hermione was tearing the other woman's chest open with a strength she didn't know she had. All she remembered was the blood. How could such an evil, cold woman have so much warm red blood inside her?

Hermione breathed heavily and stared puzzled at the open chest of Bellatrix Lestrange. She could see the ribcage, but the rest was just a bloody mess. It looked so surrealistic. Like a painting, almost.

"Hermione?" she heard someone groan.

She remembered Voldemort. With her eyes still on the corpse, she found her wand and released him. Only when he physically forced her did she manage to get her eyes from the body. Once she did, reality hit her and she felt sick. Merlin, what had she done? She had killed someone! She had put a knife through someone's body and it had felt like butter. It was so weird, she had thought it would be harder to kill someone with a knife. But it wasn't. It was so easy… oh, Merlin, what if someone did that to her?

"Hermione," Voldemort whispered. "I'm going to Apparate us home now, okay?"

She snapped out of her angst. "We have to get rid of the body." Was it disrespectful to just call it 'the body'? Although, Bella had never been one to respect only to fear. Now it was nothing left to fear…

"I already have," Voldemort answered. "But you are a mess, we have to get you cleaned up before someone sees you."

Hermione looked down at her clothes. There was a lot of blood on them. She fought back vomit.

Voldemort Apparated them back to their hotel room and they both went directly to the shower. He made their clothes disappear (probably forever) before he joined her in the shower. Hermione didn't know how much blood she had on her, but it took a long time before the water became clear. It was strange how little it bothered her now.

"What was it like?" she asked in a low voice. "Your first killing?"

Voldemort, how was helping her shampooing her hair, thought a moment before he answered. "Very different from yours. I've never killed anyone by mistake."

"Never?" That surprised her.

"No. There are people whom I never intended to kill, but the situation made me reconsider. Like the time with Potter's mother," Voldemort said it like he was talking about the weather. "But never what you just did."

Hermione sighed. "I didn't mean to kill her. I just didn't want her to hurt either one of us."

"I know," he said and moved her under the sprinkles again to wash away the shampoo. When it was all gone from her hair, he turned her toward him. "If you hadn't killed her, I would, Hermione. I think you did her a favour by stabbing her. It took less time."

"That doesn't make me feel better," she muttered. "But I don't know how I'm supposed to feel…"

"How do you feel?" he asked.

She bit her lip as she thought about it. The warm water was pouring down soothingly over her back. "Like it didn't happen. Like it was just a bad dream."

"You will come to terms with it," Voldemort said knowingly and stroked her cheek.

Hermione frowned at him. He was feeling pleased. "Are you happy about what happened?"

He smirked. "Well, I think it's rather fitting actually. You killing my old lover before you take place as my new one."

"But I haven't decided yet!" she cried.

Voldemort bent down so he could look her straight in her eyes. "Haven't you?"

Hermione frowned. She had told her mother that Voldemort was her new lover. When Harry and Ginny had asked, she had talked like she would stay with him. Now, she had even killed someone because she couldn't stand to see him get hurt!

"I thought so," he whispered and smirked. "Perhaps it's time, then?"

For a moment she didn't know what he meant, but then he bent leaned closer to her and kissed her softly on the lips.

"I-I don't know," she stammered. "I mean, I've just… shouldn't I think about what I've done and… feel sorry or something?"

"What are you afraid off?" Voldemort asked. "Shouldn't this event show you that you should enjoy life while you have it?"

Hermione couldn't resist smiling. "Says he who claims he will never die."

Voldemort pushed her against the wall. "Well, we are not talking about me now, are we?"

She looked into his dark red eyes and saw… nothing to be afraid off.

"You have saved my life twice now," he whispered. "Three times if you count the ritual that began this whole affair. Don't you think it's time for me to repay you?"

Slowly, she nodded. Voldemort smiled and captured her lips again. Hermione closed her eyes and let him devour her. The kiss was tender at a start but slowly turned more passionate. She felt his hardness against her stomach and wondered how long he had been turned on. Since they stepped into the shower, came his silent answer. Hermione realised two things then, one, he was obviously very perverse and two, she had spent too long time with him because she wasn't really disturbed by it.

He was right. She had already made her choice, there was no turning back now.

When he heard her thought, he growled and moved her legs so she had them wrapped around his waist. His hand found her breast and he caressed it greedily. She let out a moan and sucked on his lower lip. When she let go of it, he let his lips travel from her mouth over her cheek and to her ear. She purred when he nibbled her lower lip and let her fingers scratch his back. His lips moved down to her throat where he made sure to leave some love bites. Hermione's hand sneaked between their bodies and she started to stroke his cock with her hand. The water was making it slippery, but more fun to explore. She could feel how much Voldemort liked her treatment and was encouraged to move her hand down to his balls. He really liked that and she could feel herself getting wetter both from his pleasure and from his caress of her breast and neck.

She wanted to know what it felt like to have his cock inside her. Voldemort was not slow helping her to move his cock to her opening. Pressing her harder against the wall, he managed to use the tip of his harness to tease her clit. Hermione moaned in pleasure, and became even more eager to feel him inside her. He chuckled against her neck and then, finally, pressed his full length into her.

It was the most amazing thing Hermione had ever experienced. Not only could she feel the pleasure of being filled up by a big cock, but she could also feel what he was feeling. Her pussy felt so hot and wonderful around his organ and she didn't know how he kept himself from coming. When he started to move, Hermione had an orgasm. Not only was he putting pressure on her g-spot but she also felt what the friction was doing to him. Amazingly, he managed to stop himself from coming again and continued to move.

Time had stopped. All Hermione was aware of was the intimacy of having him inside both her body and mind. She could hear his moans both with her ears and in her mind. The pleasure and closeness made her cry and she lost count on how many times he managed to make her climax before he finally allowed himself to do it as well. The last time, they both climaxed at the same time and it was like a silver wave of pleasure running through their bodies, consuming them.

When she became aware of herself again, they were both on the floor. He was resting with his head against her breast and she was holding him there. She would never let him go. This was better than anything in the world and she wanted it again and again.

Voldemort made her loosen her grip around him enough so he could crawl up and kiss her lips. He seemed just as amazed as she was, even if he had already put up his Occlumency shield again. Hermione was a little sad over this. It had been so amazing to be wrapped around each other's minds like that. Nevertheless, she had no doubt she would manage to make him drop his shield around her eventually. He just needed time.

"Does that mean you are ready to spend the rest of your life with me?" Voldemort wanted to know, breathing hard from their sex-act.

Hermione was breathing hard as well. She knew her answer. How would she ever be able to be with another man after what she had just experienced? Not even mentioning all the other things only Voldemort was able to give to her. "Yes. I will."

Voldemort nuzzled his nose against hers and Hermione felt completely happy.

THE END

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I'd like to thank you all for reading! I realise that this is a very open end and that so much could happen after this, but I wanted it to be an open end because that way it can be happy! Now I'm back at school again and it will be harder for me to find time to write, but never fear, I will continue to write. As a matter of fact I've already begun a new adventure with our favourite couple and I hope I'll have started to post it sometime later this year. So keep your eyes open and you are welcome to PM me!


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